It is okay to love yourself without judgment.  Love doesn’t judge. You don’t deserve judgment and pain from the one you are desperately in love with. This is not love. That is fear. Love yourself fully. Love yourself until you are overflowing with it. Love yourself speaking imperfectly. Love yourself stumbling through ASL. Love yourself Deaf. Love yourself pre-cochlear implant, during cochlear implant and when it breaks on you. Love [...]

  Ninety-five percent of deaf children have hearing parents. What does that mean? It means that many of us are used to being the only deaf person in the family, in the community, or in school unless we are at a deaf school. It means that our family is our first introduction to the ways that hearing people view deafness and deaf children, and the ways that they pass along [...]

[Editor's Note: The following is a list of contact information for survivors of domestic/sexual violence and/or stalking.  It is meant to be Part III of Deaf Echo author Adrienne Gravish's What Does It Mean to Be a d/Deaf Woman Living a Life That is Free of Violence series.   This information has been recently updated.]   National Deaf Domestic Violence Hotline: Video-Phone: (206) 787 – 3224 Monday  to Friday 9 am [...]

How may our communities support the empowerment of Deaf survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, and stalking? Continue to support Deaf-focused domestic violence organizations in your community. Organizations such as Deaf Abused Women’s Network (D.A.W.N.) in Washington, DC, and Deaf Hope in Oakland, California are still working to erase barriers that keep Deaf survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence, and/or stalking from seeking and receiving the help they need from [...]

Individually: It means knowing we deserve love, respect and safety. It means feeling secure in our ideas, personal choices, right to autonomy, humanity, and d/Deaf identity. It means that our relationships, friendships, and communities affirm the same to us. It means that in a relationship, we are not demeaned, ignored, or belittled. Our ASL, English, or speech is not made fun of. We are not punished, shaken, hit, choked, accused, [...]