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Information Environment & Culturally Deaf Survivors

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Issues Related to the Information Environment

Most mainstream domestic violence and sexual assault programs rely to some extent on written materials to communicate with the people they serve or are designed to serve. For example, program staff may use written materials to raise awareness and educate about violence or to outreach to a particular community. They may use written materials to communicate program rules and expectations or to orient a person to the services. A support group may provide written materials to give survivors more information about the dynamics of abuse, the healing process, or other topics that are critical to a survivor’s healing.

Some Deaf people may not be able to easily understand the information that is contained in these written materials. Some Deaf people are semi-lingual, meaning that they are not fluent in either ASL or English. Others, who may or may not be fluent in English, may prefer visual communication and may not be comfortable relying on English to communicate. In addition, it is important to remember that some individuals, including those who are Deaf-Blind, may not be able to rely on written materials of any kind. To make information more interactive, many programs use videos to communicate important information to audiences. However, many of these videos are not captioned. Even with captioning, they rely on English fluency to grasp the information being conveyed. ASL interpreters may be needed to interpret the captioned video.

In addition to understanding written or spoken materials, some Deaf people for whom English is not a primary language, may struggle to be understood when articulating their own thoughts and feelings.  Because English and ASL have such different rules of syntax and grammar, someone who is Deaf may not express themselves in a way easily understood by someone who only communicated in English. For example, a Deaf person might sign or write, “YOU ME CROSS MISS ME KNOW SORRY.”  Translated into English, that means “We must have just missed each other. I am sorry.” In addition to providing interpreters who can help with communication, it is essential to extract as many details as you can about what someone is trying to say, to ensure that you both understand.

Even if a Deaf person is fluent English, they may not feel connected to or be able to access the information being conveyed if the information does not reflect their culture and community. For example, outreach materials that include information about available resources for “people with disabilities” may not resonate with or reflect the cultural needs of Deaf people because some Deaf survivors view themselves as a cultural and language minority and not a person with a disability. 

The main consequence is that many Deaf survivors may have limited or no access to life-saving information about available resources in the community that are designed to increase their safety or support them in their healing process of healing.

Examples of Problems

• A new video on men’s role in ending violence against women on college campuses was just released. A group of Deaf students want to show the video as part of their college campuses activities for Sexual Assault Awareness Month. When they request the video, they learn the video is not captioned and they can’t show it. Like Deaf audiences, they will not be able to expand their knowledge about the important topic. 
• A local domestic violence and sexual assault organization develops a new program to serve women with disabilities. As part of the program, two staff members give an educational presentation at a local meeting of Deaf women using an interpreter. During the presentation, a few participants disclose experiences of abuse and others discuss their friends’ experiences. But, they are not comfortable with and won’t reach out to the program for support. They are concerned that the program staff will not understand them and serve their needs. Plus, the program lacks a peer cultural and linguistic group support.
• A Deaf woman contacts her local hotline using a TTY machine. A staff member answers the hotline and proceeds as she would with any other hotline call. She continues safety planning with the woman in the same way she does with hearing callers. Unfortunately, she does not talk with the woman about how being Deaf might impact her safety planning, the resources available for safety, and the possible barriers she may encounter as she tries to access those services.
• During a support group meeting, the facilitator shares information on the tactics of abuse that abusers use. A Deaf survivor in the room does not see any of her experiences --her abuser destroying her TTY, making fun of her ASL style, telling her that she is worth less because she is Deaf-- reflected in the materials or discussion. She does not know if that means that her experiences were not abuse or if the program is not designed for her.
• A Deaf survivor has just fled her abuser and arrived at a local shelter. During the intake process, she receives a packet of important information about the shelter and her advocate asks her to read through them. She reads through the materials. At the end of the meeting, she asks her advocate a series of questions. The advocate is frustrated by her questions because the answers were outlined in the packet of information she was given to read earlier, not realizing the language barriers that this survivor is experiencing.
• A Deaf survivor is given a written list of important policies, guidelines, and/or “rules” that must be followed to receive services and support from a program. Early on in the program, the survivor breaks a few guidelines/rules. Staff members reiterate the rules to her by giving her another written copy to read. The problems continue and, during a weekly meeting, staff members consider removing her from the program, failing to see that a language barrier is causing the problem.

Suggested Solutions

• Use a captioned video that is ASL friendly or a conducted in American Sign Language (ASL) to introduce and orient survivors to the shelter or program. This can help a survivor who arrives in the middle of the night whose communication requirements are unclear or cannot be immediately fulfilled. As an example, Deaf Advocacy Services in Vermont (www.dvas.org) has created a Sign Language Video for this purpose for those who are Deaf. This provides consistency in welcoming women when communication problems could potentially arise.
• Ask Deaf survivors if they would like an interpreter to translate information from videos, even if they are captioned.
• Ask all survivors if they would like written materials explained or read to them. For Deaf survivors, do so through a qualified interpreter, and/or Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) if they would like to better understand the information. CDI is an individual who is Deaf or hard of hearing has specialized training and/or experience, knowledge and understanding of Deaf culture and community, to be able to fill in nuances and concepts in addition to communication proficiency.
• Contact Deaf domestic violence and sexual assault service providers for culturally specific resources on violence including videos that are done in American Sign Language to share with Deaf survivors.
• Include information, examples, and photos that reflect the culture and experiences of Deaf survivors in your program’s materials.  
• Include books and articles in your program’s library about domestic violence and the Deaf community, as well as the cultural experiences of Deaf.
• Include applicable access symbols on outreach material, advertisements, websites, etc., lets survivors know more about the accessibility of your services. The Graphic Artist’s Guild has standardized access symbol graphics available for download on their website.
• Make information (e.g. presentations, brochures, handouts, etc.) visual, interactive, and more engaging so that it is more friendly to people who use ASL. Include examples, pictures, and metaphors that are relevant to the survivors’ experiences and help to illustrate various concepts.
• Consider having a collection of visual aids for the topics you commonly discuss with survivors. The visual aids can help Deaf survivors to understand your communication in any number of situations where clarity of communication is very important. Contact Deaf-specific victim service organizations for some ideas of visual aids that they use.
• Universal design ideas used for people with cognitive limitations can be helpful for some people who are semilingual or never fully learn American Sign Language or English to facilitate the communication of visual and textual information.  

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