Facility History
The Utah State Division of Services to the Deaf and Hard of Hearing is housed in a 32,000 sq. ft. facility named the Sanderson Community Center of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Built in 1992, and expanded in 2001, it remains one of the largest state-funded facilities in the nation. Named in 2003 after a locally and nationally known leader of the Deaf community, Robert G. “Sandie” Sanderson, Ph.D., the facility attracts attention and visitors from across the nation. The facility boasts a full-size gymnasium, kitchen fit for cooking classes, lecture hall, meeting rooms, office space, as well as interpreter certification and assistive technology demonstration labs.
If you are from another state and would like to know the struggles and lengths the Deaf community leaders had to take to educate the Utah State Legislature about the needs and numbers of Deaf and Hard of Hearing individuals in Utah in order to obtain similar services in your state, please review the information in the history section below.
Historical Highlights of Utah’s Sanderson Center
History – Feasibility Study to Request State Funding of a Community Center (PDF)