March 25, 2021 marks the 35th
anniversary of the first organization created to support and empower survivors
of domestic and intimate partner violence within the Deaf community. Abused Deaf
Women’s Advocacy Services (ADWAS) started in the basement of Marilyn J. Smith,
a hearing survivor of rape, following the murder of a local d/Deaf woman by her
spouse. Smith was inspired to act after learning that many in the Deaf
community had known of this woman’s abuse but had not known how to get help or
report it. Since then, ADWAS has grown into a nationwide model to address the
needs of male and female survivors of abuse in the Deaf community and to
educate the general public about related issues. In honor of the 35th
anniversary of ADWAS, I’ve included 30 facts and 5 resources on domestic and
intimate partner violence in the Deaf community, highlighting the continued
importance of their work.
- There are at least 500,000 members of the American Deaf community, a culturally distinct group of people who share American Sign Language (ASL) as their primary language.
- To be Deaf (capital D) is to be a part of a cultural identity, not simply a person with deafness and not a person with a disability.
- American Sign Language (ASL) does not have the same grammar and sentence structure as English; thus the importance of having a certified interpreter is paramount, especially of instances of healthcare and legal matters.
- Individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing are 1.5 times more likely than their hearing counterparts to be victims of relationship violence, including sexual harassment, sexual assault, psychological abuse and physical abuse, in their lifetimes (Porter & Williams, 2011).
- Although it is commonly reported that 25% of women in the general population experience domestic violence in their lifetime, estimates within the Deaf community are closer to 50% (Anderson & Leigh, 2011).
- Since the beginning of the COVID pandemic and stay-at-home mandates, the number of domestic and intimate partner violence cases have risen in both the hearing and Deaf communities. According to statistics from The National Deaf Domestic Violence Hotline (NDDVH), contacts between the months of January and May 2020 had already surpassed the total number of contacts received during the entirety of 2019.
- Emotional abuse is the most common form of intimate partner violence reported by people who are deaf, with lifetime rates exceeding 25% (Pollard, Sutter, & Cerulli, 2013).
- Reports of physical abuse are at least as common among individuals who are deaf, if not slightly more so, than in the general population.
- Pollard et. al (2013) also noted that sexual violence and forced sex is much more frequently experienced by individuals who are deaf than their hearing counterparts. This is consistent with previous findings regarding sexual abuse among d/Deaf adults.
- According to Pollard et. al (2013), there was a higher proportion of males that reported experiences of intimate partner violence in the Deaf community than in the general population.
- Anderson and Leigh’s (2011) survey of deaf female college students resulted in surprisingly high rates of intimate partner violence perpetration reported by these women.
- Domestic and intimate partner violence in the Deaf community often includes isolation (from friends, family, and appropriate services), intimidation (aggressive or threatening signing style), shame (showing disgust toward Deaf culture), and manipulation (gaslighting).
- Economic abuse can occur by abusers withholding survivors’ Social Security Disability Income checks, creating financial reliance on the abuser for survival.
- Within the Deaf community, there is a “double code of silence” related to domestic and intimate partner violence because services are typically not culturally sensitive or accessible for deaf survivors and because the deaf community has historically misunderstood or minimized these issues (Rems-Smario, 2007).
- A recent study on intimate partner violence among deaf female college students found that more than 50% of survivors did not label their experiences of psychological aggression and physical assault as abuse, even when these experiences included severe harm (e.g., death threats, choking) (Anderson & Kobek Pezzarossi, 2012).
- Anderson & Kobek Pezzarossi (2012) also noted that a majority of deaf intimate partner violence survivors did not label sexual coercion by a partner as an abusive act.
- Healthcare providers often omit screening for intimate partner violence along with sexual histories of women with disabilities due to the incorrect assumption that individuals with disabilities are not sexual (McRuer & Mollow, 2012).
- Under the Americans with Disabilities Act and Rehabilitation Act, hospitals and other medical facilities are required to provide appropriate in-person and/or remote sign language interpretation services as well as textual English communications to patients and/or companions who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Many deaf and hard-of-hearing people do not know sign language, and they comprise populations that also experience inequities in access to health communication, health care, health research, and health-related careers.
- Most d/Deaf individuals experience obstacles to understanding written health materials due to differences in language and development compared to hearing individuals (Glickman, 2013).
- Research suggests a fourth-grade median English reading level among d/Deaf high school graduates (Gallaudet Research Institute, 2003), significantly below the average seventh-to-eighth grade reading level among hearing high school graduates.
- In addition to these general English literacy concerns, nearly 50% of d/Deaf individuals also have inadequate health literacy—6.9 times more likely than hearing individuals due to insufficient health education (McKee et al., 2015).
- Health-related vocabulary among d/Deaf sign language users is similar to non–English-speaking US immigrants (McEwen & Anton-Culver, 1988), and “many adults deaf since birth or early childhood do not know their own family medical history, having never overheard their hearing parents discussing this with their doctor” (Barnett et al., 2011)
- Survivors may avoid seeking treatment due to valid concerns about confidentiality including reduced anonymity within the Deaf community and unease about Deaf providers or ASL interpreters who belong to the same social circles as their clients (Barber, Wills, & Smith, 2010).
- Members of the Deaf community have also been subjected to historical mistreatment by behavioral health researchers and providers. Early literature on the “psychology of deafness” described d/Deaf people as emotionally and cognitively deficient compared to hearing people (Pollard, 1970)
- Historically, individuals with deafness have also been described by individuals in the medical community as “language impaired, immature, impulsive, concrete, aggressive, [and] less intelligent” (Pollard, 1970).
- As recently as the 1970s, the majority of mental health practitioners working with d/Deaf individuals were practicing without special training or knowledge of Deaf culture or ASL.
- Despite recognition that this practice was unacceptable, to this day the number of resources for d/Deaf survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence are limited. Currently, there are approximately fifteen deaf–specific organizations for survivors of abuse in the U.S., with goals of expanding numbers and locations.
- For that reason, many survivors who are deaf or hard of hearing continue to seek assistance at local organizations where providers are likely unfamiliar with ASL and d/Deaf cultural norms, thus putting them at a disadvantage when trying to establish healing relationships.
- By educating ourselves on the specific obstacles facing survivors of domestic and intimate partner violence among the d/Deaf community, we as providers can begin to work towards more equitable and just care for some of our most vulnerable patients.
If you or someone you know is a survivor of domestic or intimate partner violence, the following resources are available, with specific emphasis on those that are equipped to support survivors in the d/Deaf community:
- Abused Deaf Women’s
Advocacy Services, an organization that empowers Deaf and DeafBlind
survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment to transform
their lives, while striving to change the beliefs and behaviors that
foster and perpetuate violence. https://www.adwas.org/
- DeafHope, a
grassroots organization whose goal is to provide accessible support and
empowerment to Deaf women who are survivors of domestic and sexual
violence. http://www.deaf-hope.org/
- Deaf Anti-Violence
Coalition (DAVC), a national organization committed to ending power-based
personal violence, including but not limited to: domestic violence,
intimate partner violence, sexual violence, stalking, and human
trafficking within Deaf communities. https://www.deafantiviolencecoalition.com/
- The
National Domestic Violence Hotline (NDVH): Email: deafhelp@thehotline.org; TTY: 1-800-787-3224;
Video Phone: 1-855-812-1001; Live Chat: www.thehotline.org
- National Resource Center on Domestic Violence has operated https://vawnet.org/, an online network focused
on violence against women and other forms of gender-based violence.
Resources:
-
Anderson ML,
Leigh, IW. Intimate partner violence against deaf female college students.
Violence Against Women. 2011;17(7):822-834.
-
Anderson ML,
Kobek Pezzarossi CM. Is it abuse? Deaf female undergraduates’ labeling of
partner violence. J Deaf Stud and Deaf Edu. 2012;17(2):273-286.
-
Barber S,
Wills D, Smith MJ. Deaf survivors of sexual assault. In Leigh IW (Ed.),
Psychotherapy with deaf clients from diverse groups, 2nd ed, 2010. Washington,
DC: Gallaudet University Press.
-
Barnett S,
Klein JD, Pollard RQ, et. al. Community participatory research with deaf sign
language users to identify health inequities. Amer J Pub Heal. 2011;101(12):
2235-2238.
-
Gallaudet
Research Institute. Literacy and deaf students. 2003. [web]
http://gri.gallaudet.edu/Literacy/reading.
-
Glickman NS.
Introduction: what is deaf mental health care? In Glickman NS(Ed.), Deaf mental
health care. 2013. New York, NY: Routledge.
-
McEwen E,
Anton-Culver H. The medical communication of deaf patients. J Fam Practice.
1988; 26(3): 289–291.
-
McKee MM,
Paasche-Orlow Mk, Winters PC, et al.
Assessing Health Literacy in Deaf American Sign Language Users. J Health
Comm. 2015; 20 (2): 92–100. doi:10.1080/10810730.2015.1066468.
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McRuer R,
Mollow A (Ed.). Sex and disability. 2012. Durham, NC: Duke University Press
-
Pollard RQ
Jr. 100 years in psychology and deafness: A centennial retrospective. J Amer
Deaf and Rehab Ass. 1970;26:32-46.
-
Pollard RQ
Jr, Sutter E, Cerulli C. Intimate partner violence reported by two samples of
deaf adults via a computerized American sign language survey. J Interpers
Violence. 2014;29(5):948-965. doi:10.1177/0886260513505703.
-
Porter JL,
Williams LM. Auditory status and experiences of abuse among college students.
Violence Vict. 2011;26(6):788-98. doi: 10.1891/0886-6708.26.6.788.
- Rems-Smario, J. Domestic violence: We can’t
ignore it anymore. NADmag. March/April 2007;16-18.
Samantha Innis, MS4
Drexel University College of Medicine
