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Marilyn Smith

Marilyn Smith is the founder of Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services (ADWAS). She began organizing Seattle’s Deaf community in 1983 by bringing together a group of Deaf women to discuss the issue of abuse, planning a conference on abuse in the Deaf community, and founding ADWAS in 1986. From 1986 to 1998, ADWAS was the nation’s only Deaf-managed and fully accessible domestic violence/sexual assault organization providing services to the Deaf and Deaf-Blind. Smith has spoken about domestic violence and sexual assault to both adults and children in Deaf communities around the country since 1993, and in 1998 she created the Justice for Deaf Victims National Training Project, leading to the founding of 15 domestic violence/sexual assault Deaf organizations nationwide.

Using the ADWAS model, Ms. Smith today works with these 15 agencies nationwide on organizational development, fund-raising, leadership training, and non-profit management. Her organization also works for legislative and policy change at the state and local levels, confronting systemic biases against Deaf and Deaf-Blind victims of violence. The result has been a growing national awareness of the issues that the Deaf and Deaf-Blind face, and an increase in accessibility, evidenced by a greater availability of text telephones, a wider use of American Sign Language interpreters, and improved relationships with public protection agencies and hospitals. Ms. Smith has formed a national coalition to ensure that the issue of violence against the Deaf and the Deaf-Blind will be seen and heard.

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