Hello Everyone,

Five Deaf women including two CODA children were killed by domestic violence in 2009 alone. They have no place to go.

I cannot emphasize, assert, impress, insist on, make clear, pinpoint, press, pronounce, rub in, and spotlight how

IMPORTANT

for all of us, as the DEAF COMMUNITY (including CODAs, families, teachers, professionals, interpreters, and friends)

to SIGN IN NOW!

Click the image below that will take you to the site where you can vote.

WHY?

I will tell you why… DeafHope is a nonprofit organization, established for and by Deaf women in January 2003. DeafHope’s mission is to end domestic and sexual violence against Deaf women and children through empowerment, education and services. DeafHope was one of the top 100 charities in Round One of Chase Community Giving.

Right now, Chase Community Giving started their second round. Chase will give ONE MILLION DOLLARS to the charity with the most votes, and plus five runners-ups with $100,000 dollars each.

DeafHope is currently in the 45th place out of 100 charities. The top one, Invisible Children, Inc. received over 13,000 votes and DeafHope has 1,412 votes. (as of 1:15pm Saturday, January 16th).

That’s not right. We have 500,000 Deaf ASL users in United States, and I believe there are over 20,000 Deaf Facebook users, plus millions more who are CODAs, Teachers, Professionals, Families AND Friends in our community!

Let’s look at this bigger picture here…

Right now, Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services (ADWAS) established the NATION’S FIRST transitional housing program, “A Place of Our Own.”, as a safe housing for Deaf and Deaf-Blind women and their children that are accessible.

That is the only one transitional housing program for the Deaf. Yes, the ONLY ONE.

Deaf domestic violence survivors and their children don’t live near Seattle, Washington where they can go to a ’safe house’ that is accessible to them.

In Georgia, there are 1,342 shelters and agencies specializing in domestic violence. Want a proof? Click here for the map. These shelters and agencies are not accessible to Deaf and Hard of Hearing women and their children.

The National Domestic Violence Hotline have a dedicated outreach webpage addressing Deaf and Hard of Hearing population. Click here for the webpage.

A Deaf, Deaf-Blind or Hard of Hearing woman trying to leave an abusive relationship faces unique barriers. Law enforcement and shelters are often not skilled at communicating with the Deaf, Deaf-Blind and Hard of Hearing and often don’t have interpreters.

Four million women are physically abused each year by their partners.

* 500,000 are Deaf, Deaf-Blind or Hard of Hearing.
* 31% of American women report being physically or sexually abused at some point in their lifetime.
* 6,000,000 are Deaf, Deaf-Blind or Hard of Hearing.

As of January 2010, there are only 12 (TWELVE) agencies/programs providing services specifically for Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

ADWAS – Seattle, Washington
Website: www.adwas.org

DeafHope – Oakland, California
Website: www.deaf-hope.org

DOVE – Denver, Colorado
Website: www.deafdove.org

DCAV, Chicago, Illinois
E-mail: dcavchicago@yahoo.com

Deaf Iowans Against Abuse (DIAA), Des Moines, Iowa
Website: www.dwiaa.org

CSD of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota
E-mail: DVemailMN@c-s-d.org

Freedom House Emergency Shelter, New York, New York
Website: www.fhnyc.org

Rochester Advocacy Services for Deaf Victims (ASADV), Rochester, New York
Website: www.asadv.org

Columbus Deaf Women Against Violence Everywhere (DWAVE), Columbus, Ohio
Website: http://dwaveohio.org

Philadelphia Abused Deaf Victims Advocacy Network (ADVAN), Philadelphia, Pennslyvania
TTY Hotline: 1-888-883-0770
(610) 277-0207

Salt Lake City Sego Lily Center for the Abused Deaf (SLCAD), Salt Lake City, Utah
Website: www.slcad.org

Deaf Abused Women’s Network (DAWN), Washington, DC
Website: www.deafdawn.org

Deaf Victims Advocacy Services, South Barre, Vermont
Website: www.dvas.org

Vote for DeafHope, and give the strong message to everyone in United States that we do need more shelters that are accessible to the Deaf survivors and their children! Spread the word around!

Thank you,
Amy Cohen Efron