Steve Hamerdinger, Director of the Office of Deaf Services, Alabama Department of Mental Health, is a nationally recognized expert on deafness and mental health services, having served in various capacities in four states as well as on several national projects.  Prior to coming to Alabama, he was the Director of the Office of Deaf and Linguistic Support Services at the Missouri Department of Mental Health, a child therapist in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and various roles in the residential program at the Kansas School for the Deaf.

Steve has been associated with the deaf rights movement in the Kansas City since the early 1980's.  While working in the residential program at the Kansas School for the Deaf, he served 3 years as the Chair of the Olathe (Kansas) Disabled Person's Advisory Board.  He was a frequent speaker at the University of Kansas Sign Language Program where he lectured on Deaf Culture.  He also served as adjunct faculty at the Kansas City Kansas Community College.  He also served on the Kansas State Task Force for mental health and deafness in the mid to late 80s.

After receiving his Masters Degree in Counseling at Gallaudet University in 1989 Steve moved to Santa Fe, to work as a mental health counselor at the New Mexico School for the Deaf.   His practice there focused on deaf children and their families.  While living in New Mexico, he was instrumental in helping to establish the New Mexico Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and was elected as the first Chair of that Commission.  He is a Past President of the New Mexico Association of the Deaf.

In May 1993, Steve returned to Missouri to assume the position of Director of the Office of Deaf and Linguistic Support Services.   In this capacity, he was responsible for helping Department of Mental Health facilities and contract providers  make their services accessible to consumers who have hearing loss or who had limited English proficiency.  Among the innovative projects developed there under his supervision were the Mental Health Interpreters Resource Project, the Visual-Gestural Communication Project, and the Deaf Treatment Family Homes Project.

Steve has served on the The Missouri Supreme Court Commission on Access to the Courts, Missouri State-wide Task Force on Deaf Education, the Missouri Board of Certification of Interpreters, and various state and national professional organizations and associations.  He is currently on the National Board of Directors for ADARA, an organization of professionals networking together for excellence in service delivery to individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing.   He has also participated in several initiatives through the National Association of State Mental Health Program Directors, including helping to organize a National Experts Meeting on Seclusion and Restraint of Persons Who are Deaf as well as contributing to the Technical Report from that meeting.

An engaging and enthusiastic speaker, Steve is in national demand as a speaker and consultant on  deafness and Deaf Culture as well as child development, counseling and other mental health and deafness and hearing loss related topics.