ASHLEY BROMPTON THROUGH INTERPRETER: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for our webinar today. My name is Ashley Brompton with the Center on Victimization and Safety at the Vera Institute of Justice. And I'd love to welcome you to today's webinar. We're pleased to bring you this webinar as part of our 2021 End Abuse of People with Disabilities webinar series. Before we get started today, I wanted to provide some information about the accessibility features of our Zoom webinar platform, as well as how you can best interact with us throughout the session today. You should be in listen only view only mode. That means you can hear and see us, but we cannot hear and see you. If you'd like to turn the captioning on, please go to the closed captioning symbol at the bottom of your screen. Select the arrow to the right of that closed captioning icon. And you can either select Show Subtitle or View Full Transcript. Once you select one of those options, you will see the words I am speaking appearing below my video if you selected show subtitle. Or to the right of the Zoom window if you selected show full transcripts. Today, we have a bilingual space. The presentation will be in American Sign Language today with English interpretation. Because the interpreters will be voicing into English rather than interpreting into American Sign Language, you may not see them on the screen throughout the session, but they will be voicing for the panelists today. You will see the panel the panelists and the moderator. If you experience any issues with the interpreters or captioning, please let us know in the question and answer, so that we can help address your needs. We value complete access in our virtual sessions. If we have a technical problem, we will pause to address the issue. If the issue can't be resolved, we may have to cancel the session. If that happens, we will send an email to you with further information about how we are resolving the issue. Feel free to use the chat to communicate with each other. But if you have a question for the panelists, or for us, please use the Q&A, so it doesn't get lost. If you would like to ask a question in American Sign Language, please raise your virtual hand. We will then reach out to you to confirm that you would like to ask a question, so that we can give you video privileges. If possible, we would like to hold questions until the end of the discussion today. This is a real conversation and we want to make sure that our panelists have the opportunity to engage with each other throughout the session. But we will be holding all questions and keeping track of them. So feel free to ask them whenever you have them. And we'll make sure that we track them for the panelists. A note about the chat pod. You cannot save the chat or a copy and paste from the chat. This is a security measure. If we share links in the chat, you should be able to click them. But we will make sure to include them in any participant materials for this section just so that you have another way to access them if you're unable to click them in the moment. Right now, if you joined using your web browser, you may only be seeing speaker view, which may prohibit you from seeing all of the panelists moving forward. If you joined via the Zoom desktop application, we recommend that you select gallery view by clicking view in the upper right hand corner of your screen. And from there, there are multiple options. We recommend gallery view. The best way to see all of the panelists, it's the best way to ensure that you're seeing everything that's happening on the screen today. We will be recording the session today. The session recording and materials will be posted to the End Abuse of People with Disabilities website within two weeks. A record of attendance and the materials from this session, which include a list of the questions, and a resource list will be available for download via link in the chat pod. I'm hoping one of my colleagues can post that link in the chat. OK. It looks like my colleague posted the link in the chat. If you're unable to click the link, it will also be emailed to you in the follow up email to the session. So don't feel like this is your only opportunity to receive the materials. You also should have got in the link to the materials in your confirmation email. So if you would like to open them up now, you will have access to that now. Today, our session is going to be a conversation on serving deaf survivors. Our panelists are deaf advocates who have years of collective experience in working with deaf survivors. And they're here today to talk to you about how mainstream hearing organizations can better support deaf survivors, especially multiple marginalized deaf survivors. There is no PowerPoint for today's session. It's designed to be more conversational. But again, if you need a list of the questions that are being asked, or a resource sheet with some follow up information, please click on the link that will be posted throughout the session. Our panelists today are DeAnna Swope and Arcelia Aguilar. DeAnna is the Bridges Deaf Advocacy Program Manager at the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Arcelia is the empowerment director at Deaf Hope. And the panel will be moderated today by Liam Esposito. Liam has been involved with the deaf antiviolence movement for over 20 years, and works in partnership with deaf hope on our deaf action project. I'm hoping that they'll take a little bit of time to introduce themselves to you all when they start. And with that, I'm going to turn it over to DeAnna, Arcelia, and Liam. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: Hello, everyone. My name is Liam Esposito. I'm thrilled to be here with you all. I'm blessed and honored to share space with two of the most amazing colleagues I know. I'd love to share a little bit about them. However, I'll ask them to share some background, and we'll start with DeAnna. DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: Hello, everyone. I'm honored to be here with you all. This is my sign name D on my finger. My name is DeAnna Swope. And I'm from Georgia. I'm the program director for Bridges. Bridges is a program that has been around for about three years now. And I've worked in domestic violence area for about 10 years now. And I've been deaf leader here in Georgia and it's been a huge success. And so I'm looking forward to this discussion with you all today. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. Thank you so much, DeAnna. And we'll move now to Arcelia. ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: Hi, everyone. This is Arcelia. I'm looking at the chat and seeing where people are from so many different places all over the country. I'm so glad you could all make it. I joined Deaf Hope about seven years ago. And I've been doing direct services ever since. How I came to the field? I admit originally my intention was to work in the criminal justice field. Then I had an internship that let me see that it was not, in fact, the best fit for me as a deaf person. I also had a personal situation arise with a friend who experienced a rape situation and needed my support. And then at some point, Deaf Hope got involved with community accountability and that started to become an important topic in our community. My friend and I gave a presentation about this. And since then, I've been working in the field. So I'm very humbled to be a part of this field, and very happy to be here to discuss my experiences and share with you all today. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. Thank you so much both of you. Those are beautiful comments. This is Liam as I mentioned. And I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. ASHLEY BROMPTON THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Ashley. I'm so sorry to interrupt. I do want to pause for just a moment. We're getting some feedback in the chat that folks can't see you. So I'm going to go ahead and take a brief moment to spotlight each of you, which will hopefully help with the issue to make sure that those folks who can't see you. It might be having. So just bear with me for one minute, and then I will give the all clear when it's all done. Panelists please note this might change. Your view you might have to reset on your end. But I know that you all are able to do that. So just give me one moment. OK. I think we should be good once it's reset on your end. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. OK. We'll keep things moving along. As I mentioned briefly, I am a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. That experience occurred from the age of 3 to 15. I am also a survivor of domestic violence and sexual violence. I was a board member of Deaf Hope, a good 21 years ago and been in advocacy since then as a volunteer, a donor, and so forth. I joined a different board on the East Coast and later became an executive director. And I'm now a trainer and consultant. So that's a bit of my experience. As I mentioned the three of us being part of this field and lived experience have seen and witnessed a good amount of these things and what has and has not been provided from hearing service providers. I'd like to start off with some questions to Arcelia and DeAnna about what the barriers are for deaf survivors, and what they face when trying to get services from agencies who are not centrally deaf sponsored and/or providing services. DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: Yes. I will speak from my experiences from what I've seen thus far. I've seen attitudes and beliefs, environmental barriers. And the way that they address services for deaf and hard of hearing survivors. For example, deaf and hard of hearing survivors may enter a setting and asking for help. And immediately, the body language of those who are addressing them are like I don't know sign language. I don't know why you're here. And they immediately dismiss them just like that, as well as autism too. All these attitudes. And they're there for services for help with domestic violence situations. And I don't know they don't know how to work with them. But they immediately disregard them. And I've seen a lot of that very impactful to the various conversation. And they are working in the field professionally. I've been doing that since 2012. And I've started to realize something. Hearing agencies that I've visited, I did that as a task force members. And I was able to pull up different agencies on Google because I'm a bit of a stalker. So I called him up on Google and started visiting them. And at first, they were a bit resistant because they didn't know who I was. And I didn't have an interpreter with me. So they were hesitant. So I sit down and introduce myself and let them know that I'm there as a member of the deaf community, and find out what they're doing for deaf and hard of hearing survivors. And they were shocked. And it started from there. And then I developed trainings. And then my name starts to spread around a community and people start reaching out for me. But I realize that's not enough. So I decided to set up a program called Bridges in order to overcome some of the barriers in the community and people being traumatized over and over again once they enter that setting. And I will tell you it's very tough, especially for deaf and hard of hearing survivors. They don't allow texting in those settings. How awful is that you have to talk on the phone? But I mean, is this a big challenge though when it comes to communication. So when I go and meet survivors in shelters, they want to text, but they're not allowed due to the shelter's policies. And so you want me to help them. They need help, but you're preventing me from communicating and providing services to them. So I can't text in that setting. And they can't make any exceptions either. And they seem apologetic. But is a bit of a barrier. So I have to get the phone number, get everything done, and then with Wi-Fi connections. And in for example, maybe the police is there, and their address is wrong. They can't find a house. They don't have the right information. The police officer may know where the shelter is. But if a heated place. It's supposed to be restricted access. And so survivors may be lost. And there's no way for them to contact someone for help to get there because of all of those barriers. And so I try to explain those situations that they need to make it easier. Make an exception for this community. I'm not saying make an exception for everybody. But specifically, this community but yet they're so resistant to that. And it's for the sake of their safety for the survivors. I understand that, however. My hope is that from this situation, people will learn to be more flexible when it comes to texting with policies. And so I hope that people make that work for them and make that exception. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. I have a follow up question on that, DeAnna. You mentioned Bridges as a group that you had established. And it's the opposite of barriers literally and figuratively. I truly appreciate the energy behind it. And the connection of a bridge bridging communities and bridging peoples together. You also mentioned autism. And for audience members who are not familiar with that term, could you share what that is? DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: Absolutely. This is DeAnna speaking in autism. Autism is when someone takes away someone's visual access to information in the environment, such as sign language or other visual access, and making it so that they cannot be included in that environment or that setting. And a price is down, for example, family settings. Whenever family events happen, and people are laughing, and the deaf person may be like, what are you saying? What's happening? And everybody is like I'll tell you later. Never mind. Don't worry about it. And they're not giving them access to the information that's happening in their setting. And so that lack of incidental learning, it happens all the time. And that is an example of autism. So people are choosing not to share information to help people make informed decisions about themselves. Another example. That's one example for myself. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: Hi. This is Leanne speaking. Thank you so much for that. In addition to the prioritizing of English as a language of choice and focusing on the auditory features, DeAnna also mentioned all of the barriers that occur in incidental learning, and so forth. And we also talk about policies and programming and how they are so restrictive to deaf survivors. And as a facilitator, when we talk about the appropriate accommodations and naming that policy and procedures, whether it be through human resources, or through onboarding individuals are all rooted in white supremacy. And if we really truly want to dismantle racism, dismantle white supremacy in our work, this is a great place to focus. There are so many opportunities to make those changes. And we have to mention that it's not just policies and procedures. It's a power dynamic. Who the deciding person or persons are for marginalized communities to purposefully remove them from the decision-making? So when we have guidelines, and practices, and policies that are survivor centered, and inclusive, and anti-racist, that's where change is made. Arcelia, I also would like to welcome you into the conversation. What barriers have you noticed? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: I've seen so many both obvious and less obvious barriers that deaf survivors face like DeAnna mentioned. And there are a number of types of barriers. Attitudinal is a very common barrier that deaf people face. And then in terms of your actual program, there can be barriers. And then, of course, funding, it can be preventative for survivors to receive your services. So I'll share more about each of those categories. So attitudinal barriers. I have seen an instance many times where a survivor is trying to get some legal aid, or speak with a lawyer, or work with someone from any other types of service provisions. And those service providers don't know how to break down how the system works, how to say if this were to happen, then you should expect this result in that type of a thing. Typically, lawyers explain something once. And perhaps survivors need more clarification than that. And often the response that survivors receive is I have explained it already. I have already explained this to you once. And once is enough. And that is something that we see quite often with traditional organizations that are mainstream not focused on serving deaf survivors. There's this real difficulty in providing information in a way that can be processed, way that is intelligible, and in a way that enables a person to know what next steps to take. I as a deaf advocate then try to get involved and provide that type of culturally responsive information. Now, we may have an interpreter present nonetheless. But an advocate is able to change how the process is going and the process of the meeting is going, right? So something else we see is hearing. Service providers will say I can take care of this. I don't need your support and forces the deaf person to go through this on their own without the support of a deaf advocate. Let's say if a restraining order hasn't officially been in place, sometimes we see a hearing organization telling me as a deaf advocate or my colleagues as deaf advocates how to proceed. So the importance of the restraining order supersedes everything else and prevents the facilitation and smooth sharing of information and causes a delay in our process. We sometimes see survivors have to fight to get an interpreter in order to access services. Instead of being able to focus on the trauma and the experience that they just have, they're having to fight for basic needs like access. And we also see within the district attorney's office, they'll often say our interpreter isn't here, because we're not here to talk about the case. But then they'll turn meanwhile and speak to the survivors partner. And maybe that meeting isn't necessarily relevant to the shelter. But we see this with other systems happening interpreter correction that must have been people with disabilities experience. Not district attorney's office. Another issue is that we see policies put in place without considering the reasoning behind these policies. So if we're not allowing survivors to contact their support people or to make calls from a shelter, that's creating an additional barrier, or perhaps that survivor has her own phone, but isn't able to use it. The shelters move forward with procedures without thinking about the impact. And those can actually impede the deaf person success in recovering from her experience. So often, we see survivors experiencing isolation that comes upon them immediately upon entering the shelter. The culturally responsive advocate then takes on a lot of work in terms of making these situations more responsive. So how can we co advocate to create situations that are less oppressive for our deaf survivors? So again, we often see people saying can't have an interpreter. We can't afford it. But while you're in the shelter, you must attend group meetings. So the survivor does so in order to comply with the rules, but she's actually not getting any value or benefit. And in fact, it's more oppressive for her. Or there may be new rules that are in place that she doesn't know about because there's no communication access, and then she ends up being punished and even kicked out because of not having had access to new ways that she needed to comply to. We also see a tendency among mainstream organizations to focus on the quantity of service of people that are provided services to rather than really knowing the quality of your services and how it's affecting someone's life. And that is not a winning proposition. Often, when survivors arrive even getting to the shelter for deaf survivors can be difficult because they can't financially afford to get there. Or they're in the shelter, but they're not able to proceed with their lives because the person who is causing harm perhaps has all of their financial things in their own name. Meaning the survivor doesn't have access that for her Social Security Insurance, or perhaps doesn't have any documentation. So typically, we see that shelters are most effective for those who have day jobs. Well, that may not be accessible to a lot of people with disabilities and in particular deaf people. So all of these little things add up really quickly to have a huge impact on a deaf survivor. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. Thank you so much, Arcelia. You touched on so many aspects of survivors experience. And I would now like to ask both of you about communication access. You both mentioned it we will certainly go more in depth a little bit later in our time together. Language deprivation is something a large percentage of deaf folks experience. For the audience, can you expand upon that? And for some folks, this means that from the time of birth until the age of five, where the critical window of language acquisition occurs is something that's lacking in many deaf folks experiences. For several deaf folks, I would say upwards of 90% of deaf people, they are born into hearing families who have never met a deaf person until oftentimes their child is born. They don't have access to American Sign Language. Therefore, resulting in language deprivation. But 10% of the individuals that do have access come from deaf families. Most not all have access to a visual language, whether it be American Sign Language or another form of. So without that foundation of their first language, which we often refer to as L1, the understanding of English or other written languages becomes significantly challenging. Therefore, a barrier. So for language deprivation, that is also housed within the lack of incidental learning, which DeAnna mentioned earlier. That double whammy is the experience for deaf folks. So let's say, for example, hearing people can be driving their vehicle, listening to the radio. They can also have access to news announcements and things that are happening within their environment. Well, deaf folks don't have access to those types of information. When we go food shopping, you could be in the grocery store, hearing conversations, somebody found a good deal over in a particular area, or an announcement was made over the loudspeaker. And again, hearing people have access to this information, which seems insignificant to those of you who have had access to it all of your life. But these little pieces of minutia that you all have access to deaf people don't. And if we think of it as an accumulation of information, there's so much missing from a deaf person's experience because they don't have access in a visual language, which then leads to an inability to create meaningful relationships because they don't have access and it hinders the ability to do so. Arcelia, you also mentioned the quantity over quality of shelters and how predominantly hearing supervisors-- or pardon the interpretation, predominantly hearing organizations that provide access to survivors make the decisions, and do not allow for deaf folks to be a part of this access. Now, White Supremacy culture as I mentioned previously is in all policies and procedures. And White privilege and White culture allow for these systems to continue to occur. Our value for White individuals is quantity over quality when we assess those policies more. And we choose an individual approach rather than a collective approach, which again, is White supremacist in nature. So you named those things. And I want to highlight them and continue to name them as we continue through our time together. Now, when we talk about deaf individuals who are Black, Brown, and Indigenous survivors, and they are looking for support as a survivor. When they go into a predominantly White organization, and they are experiencing racism and autism, what does that look like? DeAnna, let's start with you. DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Diana speaking. So as a Black person, I am a Black individual. So I'll be speaking from that-- that lands. Black survivors experiences. For example, I'll give some of that information. When they contact me and reach out for shelter and other resources, they're constantly complaining about the oppression, and how they're blaming them for stealing things in the shelter, or stealing things from the room mates. And they're telling them that they didn't do anything. They did not do it. They had the receipt for the items that they have. And so that's something that I listen to and hear often and where the barrier comes in is with the policies. The release of information in order to communicate with the shelters for me. So when I speak with them, I let them know that let the shelters know that you've given me permission to contact them so I can speak to them directly. Or better yet, you can ask them to contact me directly. So the shelter and the individual go back and forth trying to figure that out. When they finally contact me, I introduce myself. And after that, I make sure that I address them very calmly. I come to them in a professional manner because I value and support my relationship with the deaf survivor. They contacted me about their concern. So I explained what they told me in the situation. And so I asked them to expand from their perspective on what happened. Instead of me depending directly on just the survivors point of view, I want to make sure I understand both perspectives before I approach the situation. And once I gather all that information, my role is to advocate. I don't not want to oppress, or take over, or take control, or anything of that nature because I want the shelter to have a trusted relationship and rapport with me in order to feel like they can build trust with me moving forward as well. So after developing that rapport, they share with me the information that a roommate said. That someone went into the room stole the information or something. And maybe they're blaming them for breaking into the room, or something like that. So it's basically like it's a complicated story and stories. And I ask them how they got the information. And they said that they wrote back and forth with the survivor to get that information instead of doing it sign language, and asking that you force them to read and write. That's what they said they want to do. And so once that conversation starts, the shelter, the person there said that they assumed that that will be OK. And that's how it usually works. And so I share with them about their culture. And then adding Black culture on top of that to be more expressive. And so they are looking at a deaf person and being agitated as if there's something wrong. And they're about looking at both cultures and what happens there when there's no sign language interpreter. And so they're saying that asking them the call through a video relay service with the sound interpreter on the phone. Instead of having a warm body and on site interpreter in the room with the deaf person that they can share their lived experience and their narrative of what happened. And so they do not get the full story of what's going on. They're further frustrating the deaf person into that situation is just festering. And then they just want to move on. So I'm able to talk to them about it. I think they can just move on. But they're taking their agency, and they're not giving them any closure of the situation whenever they do that. And so when deaf survivors reach out to me, I get involved in those situations to ally with them, build rapport, and diffuse the situation because I do not want to further oppress the deaf individual of the deaf survivor. I want us all to work together and finding out what to do. And also keeping in mind the cultural challenges and barriers that may exist as a Black individual too. And because Black individuals are often blamed for behaviors that they didn't do was an extra layer on top of deaf culture. The race part plays a huge role as well, especially with expressiveness body language. That is Black American Sign Language. That's part of the culture. It's part of both cultures. And so is an added layer when it comes to lack of cultural sensitivity. And I've seen this often, and I've seen some of this in here in culture as well. And so you can see some similarities between Black hair in culture and Black deaf culture. When a Black person comes in, that is their way of connecting and building rapport. And it can be traumatic when people are not honoring how they are instead of just blaming them for different things. I mean, the strong Black woman syndrome is common in our experience. And so you just cover up your emotions. People think you're angry. Why are you angry? And it's like I'm frustrated because I'm not able to communicate. And so the individual is speaking with them like I wrote back and forth with you. Is that not enough? We wrote back and forth. I wrote all of this information. And a lot of work for the deaf person to try to communicate that way. But if they have a warm body sign language interpreter, they can communicate back and forth and it would not take all of that energy and time. So that is just one example, and how that impacts Black deaf survivors. And so when I'm working with other marginalized groups, I have to be mindful of my body language and very traumatic experience as well, and for example, with Black Lives Matter Movement, now, all that historical trauma, and generational trauma, and everything that's going on that has happened before that's already part of their live experience. And they are with white supremacy values, and things like that. It creates additional barriers. And so it's just time to pass. I encourage survivors to first look at themselves first before they approach other survivors and just take a look at their own biases and beliefs. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. DeAnna, thank you so much for what you just shared. You mentioned advocacy and you also mentioned VRS. Can you tell the audience what VRS stands for sure? DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: Sure. VRS Stands for Video Relay Services. Yes. So it's basically like a three-way party call. So there's the hearing individual on the call, the deaf individual on the call, and a hearing interpreter. So the hearing person may call the deaf person. But the deaf person cannot hear. So the call is intercepted by hearing interpreter. And it's a similar if you visualize it like Skype, where the deaf person can see the sign language interpreter, and the silent interpreter can see the deaf person. But the hearing person cannot see the deaf person or the interpreter. And some people think 20 separate equipment to call a deaf person. No, you just need your phone. That's it. You just placed the call and it's intercepted by a silent interpreter. And it's a free service for deaf people and hearing people. So it doesn't charge you. You're not charged for that. You don't have to call 800 collect through all of that and have to pay a cost. You don't have to pay anything for that. You're magically connected to a sign language interpreter when you call it individual. So keep that in mind. So if you speak to a deaf, maybe you're calling a deaf woman, and you hear a man's voice. Sometimes people get a bit confused. But just keep in mind that it's not a telemarketer. It's not a scam. Keep in mind that this deaf person may be trying to contact you through video relay services. And the sign language interpreter may introduce himself. This is interpreter 45 85. And you can keep that in mind. So this is a little bit of a training. And you want to not have to hang up as soon as you hear something like that. It's not a telemarketing call or scam. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. I think the folks on the call are all laughing because we understand the frustration of being hung up on so many times. So thank you for that explanation. One more question for you, DeAnna. And then I'd like to move out of Arcelia. You talked about shelters and offering VRS in the next room. And that's called VRI. And is that something that you encourage or discourage? DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is DeAnna sighing. So the difference between VRS, Video Relay Services, and VRI, Video Remote Services is that when that person is in the same room as the hearing person I need an interpreter, they can speak with a silent interpreter on the screen. But with video relay services, that's when two people are in separate rooms, and it's approved by the Federal Communications Commission for communication in different rooms. So you have to be in different rooms in order to communicate with video relay service. And with VRI, the agency or business actually purchase that services. And I believe they pay per minute and may be a specific number of $0.60 per minute in order to use a silent interpreter on a device like a laptop, or an iPad, or something of the same room communication. So VRI, otherwise known as Video Remote Interpreting is good for short meetings, but not for screenings, assessments, or intakes. It is best to have a warm body in the room with the deaf and hearing person in order to interpret. Because it can skew the message that the person is not in the room, especially with technology and everything like that. So it's important to get an on-site interpreter, a warm body in the room within the next day in order to do those type of meetings and intakes. It is best for the Deaf person and a hearing person involved. Now, when it comes to Video Relay Services, VRS, you're not allowed to be in the same room at all. It is illegal and it is a violation of SCC's policies. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. Thank you so much, DeAnna. Arcelia, did you want to comment on your experience with seeing Black, Brown Indigenous survivors facing racism and autism with predominantly hearing providers? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: Yes. I've seen several examples of that throughout my career. And mostly, what I have seen is that marginalized survivors. Now, we always have to keep in mind that we can't assume that all deaf people have equal access to American Sign Language. We have to find what is best suited to the individual. When a or Brown deaf person goes to a mainstream DVSP organization, typically, we see that people assume that providing and ASL interpreter is what is the gold standard. In fact, that's the floor, not the ceiling. That's the bare minimum. After providing the interpreter, you need to check in and see how it went for them. And let's say the appointment went four hours, that's where I think I wonder if this interpreter was appropriate. If that interpreter was not doing the job quite as they should have. Whereas a deaf advocate, would have been very much useful in that situation and reduce the amount of time spent that the survivor had to go through this four-hour appointment with an interpreter. And who is this interpreter? Are they White? Are they Latino? Are they Black? Are they of in any way a match culturally for the Deaf person? ASL interpreters should be highly trained and highly qualified. And it is possible to accidentally hire someone who's quite underqualified. So this really underscores the importance of checking with the deaf person to ensure that the quality of interpretation provided was appropriate, and the person has awareness about vocabulary that we use in our field, and that their trauma informed. So I really encourage you to do your homework on interpreters. And I can't emphasize this enough how much providing the wrong interpreter can harm a survivor. Perhaps, you bring in an interpreter for your appointment. And then the next time you meet with a survivor, you have a different interpreter. And perhaps the first interpreter was Black, and was a cultural fit for the survivor. But then the second interpreter was White, and not a cultural fit. The message that you hear from the survivor might be completely different. And if you're putting this down in the record, the police are going to know or whomever will now discredit the survivor. When in fact, it was the interpreters interpretation that is causing the information to sound different. So it's very important to work with the same interpreter once you've established that they're, in fact, the right fit for the survivor. We noticed with IPO's interpreters. Excuse me, with IPO deaf survivors who can use their voices well may not be able to hear well, but can use their voice well. We often see hearing service providers say, oh, well, you don't need an interpreter. You can use your voice or you can hear this well enough, can't you? But what this is doing is amplifying the burden of the deaf person who is experiencing. And you're assuming that they can understand you and hear you just because they can use their voice. This is grasping on to the deaf person's ability to use their voice doesn't erase whatever other needs they have in terms of language access and other types of needs. Not only that. But if I as an advocate in present, let's say I can use my voice, but a survivor doesn't use their voice. What's going to happen from then on is I will be targeted as the person that is easy for hearing people to talk with. And then the connection is built with me instead of with the survivor. And that survivor will not feel comfortable and safe at your agency. That's just a few examples of things I've seen over the years. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. Arcelia, you shared about how if a survivor is deaf or hard of hearing, and they have the ability to speak. But hearing people will then glom onto the fact that they can speak. And that's an example of autism, which DeAnna named before. And that's autism in action as we see it. So thank you because this leads to the next question. I'd like to start with you, Arcelia. Based on those challenges that you and DeAnna have shared, what would you offer as adequate for hearing folks working with death survivors? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: Well-- this is Arcelia-- first, a common courtesy begins with how you present yourself when a deaf survivor comes to your space. Do you have the captions on the television that's running in your lobby? When they ask for an interpreter, do you respond with-- do you have a preferred interpreter? Do you need an interpreter immediately upon asking those questions? The survivor is going to have a good sense that you are understanding of what a deaf person needs. Honestly, we never get ask that question. I also always encourage a co-advocacy model. Our organization strongly believes in co-advocacy, because through that, we can provide holistic services for the survivor who can actually get all of their needs met. So I strongly encourage you to bring on board a deaf advocate in the room, in your meetings. And as your meeting is going along, sometimes information can feel very overwhelming. So pausing to check in to potentially offer to take notes that can then be shared with survivor at the end of the meeting. These are little things that actually create a lot of ability for the survivor to feel calm, to feel that she's in a safe space, and that she doesn't have to be on her guard at all times in your facility. Those are my thoughts. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. Thank you, Arcelia. I was looking at my notes and my questions because we have co-advocacy that we mentioned a little bit later. So perhaps we'll shift to that now since it was just mentioned if that's OK. And then we'll go to DeAnna. There are DV programs run by hearing folks. I want to say upwards of the number of 3,000. And there are approximately 20 deaf centered for deaf by deaf DV and SV programs nationwide. Geographically, that means approximately 75% of the country is not covered for and by deaf survivors of domestic violence and sexual violence. In the Midwest, in the South, there are less coverage areas. What does it look like when we talk about advocacy? If we have a program that is run for and by deaf in the area, then logically, we would say collaboration should occur. But if there are no programs in an area, what do folks do and what does a co-advocacy model look like with and without a program in your area? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Arcelia. A co-advocacy model in an area that has a DV/SV service provider is a great way to go. So sometimes survivors will ask me if I will make a call on their behalf. Because their calls aren't going unanswered or their emails are going unanswered. And frankly, it's easier for deaf people on the whole to express themselves in their first language, which is usually ASL. So I check in with them about what is needed. I ask the shelter or the other services if they need an RY in place before we can work together. And then what I typically see is this is ease from the hearing service provider when I as a deaf advocate I'm able to have some of these things in place before we even get there. And let's say during the session, the deaf person answers a question that the advocate knows they're answering the wrong. So the advocate can take a moment to pause and say, hey, let's clarify this here. And to resolve communication mishaps before they really become much bigger than they need to be. So this happens with an interpreter in place as well. We also will provides support through legal things and all that. And the survivor then may sometimes think that we are saying we'll provide a lawyer. So sometimes that can be misunderstood because the signs are very similar for legal support or lawyer. The signs are quite similar. So this can be a place where misunderstandings can happen. And then like I mentioned before when information can be coming at a pace, that's overwhelming or just the quantity of information is overwhelming. So sometimes what I as a deaf advocate will do is have a second meeting with the survivor after the session with the hearing service provider has ended. Sometimes we have to cover all of the content all over again. Sometimes I end up elaborating and going into even more depth than what was covered in the first meeting. And once they are able to understand this information in this way, they're able to really make the decisions from an empowered place. Now, if there is no local DV/SV services for a survivor in their area, we would go to a general advocacy organization. There are some throughout the country. So we reach out to them for their general advocacy services. We maybe can even attend their appointment there in person while we provide the DB peer counseling, the DV/SV paperwork. That content that's specific to the field, we can partner in that way, so that the survivors still getting DV/SV services, but they're having accompaniment from the advocate, the general advocacy services. All of these other things that are needed for them outside of DV/SV are provided by the other provider. And that is the most strategic way we can make use of services. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. Thank you so much, Arcelia. And especially during COVID. All of us who are in this work have learned to shift our services virtually, whether it be through Zoom like today, or an online approach. The very Institute for Justice also has a significant amount of resources and information for organizations and providers who are predominantly hearing and how to best support and advocate for survivors of the deaf communities. You both mentioned advocacy prior to this. And I want to give DeAnna a chance to comment on this. DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is DeAnna speaking. On the topic of advocacy, it's important for hearing led agencies to think about advocacy as-- well, they usually think of it with a sign language interpreter. And I think that it. That's advocacy. So when they first see that they need a sign language interpreter, they think that that's it. And I have to let them know that when I come into the room just because I'm signing, I'm not a sign language interpreter. So I explained to them more about advocacy. And if a deaf person comes in, I'm there to help clarify. Because oftentimes, this deaf survivor doesn't understand the silence interpreter, or the silent interpreter doesn't understand the deaf survivor because they're may not be fluent in the language either way. So for example, with some of the lingo. Or perhaps the deaf person is experiencing language deprivation. And so I have to really work with them and keep that in mind. And I may know the death survivor myself. But the interpreter that comes in doesn't know that person, doesn't know their language, and doesn't know their life experience. So they come in and they may be just adding extra information that a deaf survivor did not say. And so when I'm in the room, I have to let them know no interpreter. That is not with a deaf survivor just said. And so I come in and act as almost like a deaf interpreter even though I'm not. But I'm the cultural mediator. And that's my preferred term. Cultural mediator. I'm not a deaf interpreter. I'm not a sign language interpreter. I'm not trying to become a certified deaf interpreter, or anything of that nature. But I'm there to provide transparency and access. I'm not just going to be there and watch the miscued. And miscommunications happen and report be lost. And what happens if the deaf survivor goes to court and the complete message is skewed. So I intervene in that process before the process worsens. And so sometimes, the information, I allow-- So it's important when you are in those situations to allow the deaf advocates to do their job. And if the sign language interpreter is constantly having difficulty understanding that deaf survivor, then perhaps the sign language interpreter is not the best fit for the deaf survivor. And it's best to get, I mean, a deaf advocate and maybe a different type of a different interpreter. So it's very important to get to know the survivor. How do they tend to find certain things? How do they tend to express themselves? So for example, maybe the interpreter that usually works with them can't make it on that day. You bring in another sign language interpreter. But does that sign language interpreter really know that deaf and survivor. Maybe not. So it's important to get an interpreter that matches and can meet the needs of that deaf survivor and have rapport with them and build trust. It's important to keep continuity with sign language interpreters. And that's a company switching out the silent interpreters. Because the deaf survivor has to tell their story over and over and over again. And you don't want them to be traumatized like that consistently. So it's important to keep these tips in mind to keep continuity with the same family and interpreter interpreters. Keep a contract make sure that they're willing to continue working with the deaf survivor. And also included have advocated this process as well. Because sometimes you think that they're doing their job. But it's important to ask the deaf survivor what do they want, what do they need from each of the individuals involved in their matters. And so they can ask for what they want and make sure they have an agency. So ask the survivor first before assuming any of their needs. And so maybe people just get involved and they're making decisions for them. And I get involved. And the deaf survivor was like no, I didn't want that. I preferred this and this. And so it's important to keep in mind that agency does not subsume agency over them, but ask them what their needs are and get a better picture of what they need and what. ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: I'd like to add. This is Arcelia. I forgot to mention. When you're providing services, you will see a variety of folks come through your doors. Deaf blind individuals are unique population within our community that really experience less access to services than many others. So when you're working with a deaf blind person, providing just any ASL interpreter is not sufficient. You need an interpreter who is familiar with pro-tactile language. That is a language that uses the back, the arms, even potentially the legs. It informs the deaf blind person all kinds of information that a regular ASL interpreter is not able to convey. And this happens at the same time that the content of the conversation is being conveyed. So what people are saying and environmental information are included in a pro tactile interpretation. So I think that's something really important to keep in mind. Should you encounter a deaf blind survivor, there's a different kind of interpreter that's needed. Also, certified deaf interpreters are another kind of interpreter DeAnna mentioned briefly. And we'll talk more about those later. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. Thank you so much. That was beautiful coming from both of you. DeAnna also talked about transparency specific to communication. And as I mentioned earlier, the article written by Okun, O-K-U-N shared examples of individualism, quantity over quality, and now, just added by DeAnna is transparency. And the lack of all three of those, again, is a form of white supremacy. And again, I will continue to name these. Oftentimes, we hear that term. And it's very broad and abstract for us. And these are samples of what it looks like. Now, specific to communication. Communication access is brought up very often, if not always in these conversations. What advice do you offer to hearing service providers around communication access? And can you talk about the difference between communication access and language justice? DeAnna? DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is DeAnna speaking. Yes, I can speak to that. Communication access. OK. Communication access is not a one size fits all approach. It's very important to speak with a survivor and ask them what their preferred communication mode is. It could be having a American Sign Language interpreter, it could be used in Pigeon English, it could be tactile sign language. It could be running back and forth in a spoken in a language. It could be lipreading. Whatever their preference is important to honor their preference instead of forcing them to adapt to your needs and make sure that you feel comfortable. That is not how communication access works effectively. Now, when it comes to language equality, sign language maybe they're comfortable mode of communication. And do not correct their signs. Tell them you don't understand or sign language. And completely destroying their language, their mode of communication. And no, that's not the appropriate way to do it. Every deaf and hard of hearing person does not use American Sign Language the same way. So when it comes to communication access, I mean, it's hard of hearing person may come and speaking. But you can still ask them if they prefer writing back and forth or something else. They'll just offer them what you have. Ask them what they want. Do not assume their needs and their preferences. That is the key to making sure that you provide communication access. Ask them what they need first. And the deaf person is there in front of you. It's important to ask them what they need. They may feel very frustrated and say no to you about whatever they're experiencing. And it just worsens their further oppression. Because you're saying no to what they're asking for what they need. So again, continue to marginalize them. Again, adding another layer. You're robbing them of their agency again. You're not giving them any agency. You're taking that and putting yourself in a place of control. This is important with language justice and communication access for you to see what they need to provide that. Do not think that just because you provide it and to interpret it, that's what they may need. Is that what they want? Again, keeping this in mind is very important when it comes to language justice. You must ask point blank period. That is the key to language justice and communication access. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. Thank you so much, DeAnna. I want to add that we as deaf people are not checkboxes. We are not one size fits all. Because you provide an interpreter, doesn't mean that you have provided language justice. And that's something that you should unpack. Arcelia. ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: Arcelia speaking. Really DeAnna covered it all. I would just add that language justice comes from a belief and found in a theoretical framework about what you as an organization should provide, what you should do that is right, and how your materials are presented in multiple languages, and how everything that we as an organization do is founded on access, right? To make the content deliverable to the variety of community members that come through your doors. I think it has to be a principle of belief within an organization to actually create language justice. Communication access, on the other hand, I think I feel is doing the work of language justice. Language justice in and of itself is a belief. It's a commitment to giving people what they deserve to be able to have this information in their own language. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. Arcelia, you mentioned this concept of deliverables. And deliverables specific to a deaf survivor. What are some examples of outreach and engagement? What are the strategies that hearing providers can use to engage with deaf Black and Brown deaf blind, deaf indigenous survivors? What are some strategies that are culturally appropriate? Arcelia? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is our Arcelia signing. I think first, you have to figure out how shelters can make themselves visible. I think visibility is such a huge issue. We as deaf organizations are very loud on social media. So for a shelter, I would say the first step is to consider how you can make yourself known to those who are in need. So perhaps partner with a local group. Like here we have the Bay Area Black deaf advocates in where I'm located in San Francisco Bay Area. We have the Asian deaf advocates. And these are culturally specific groups within the deaf community that you could work with to check in. You could consult with them to check in about how accessible you are in welcoming your child shelter feels to these different multiple marginalized communities. Because these are individuals who personally lived this experience and understand what it takes. And for a survivor to experience good services, she will then or he will then say, oh, when I went to blah, blah, blah place, I got an interpreter right away. They had a video phone, and they had a TV, and they become an advertisement for your services. You can participate in Domestic Violence Awareness Month include reaching deaf survivors in those ways. And these are wonderful ways to make yourselves known to these communities, so that they know that your services are accessible. That when you make an effort to reach out to us proactively, and even show us what your services look like, people are much more likely to come work with you. DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is DeAnna signing exactly. I want to add on to that. Make sure that the brochures and resources are simple and to the point. And visually, accessible. Of course, you don't want to be too over the top. But maybe use the American Sign Language interpreting icon. Don't use the love you sign though. That may be triggering for the deaf survivor. So you don't want to use that. Don't stand out on the brochure or resources that can be a bit of a trigger sensitive side to use. But involving the deaf community in that process is very helpful as deaf and hard of hearing organizations. Go to them there may be some local if. And if you're lucky, maybe you can get in contact with them or speak with children of deaf adults or domestic violence, disease, and find out where deaf and hard of hearing individuals tend to socialize. Introduce yourself. And even if you don't know sign language, it's OK. Try to learn. Before you go, maybe try to learn a few signs. You don't have to try and find an interpreter. But try and learn a few signs. And just introduce yourself. Hi. My name is. That's it. Maybe try not to fail every word. That will be a lot. Little over the top. But maybe learn a few signs, and then just introduce yourself at the science fair. Hi. My name is and spell your name. And ask them if they want to come to a workshop, or presentation, or whatever it is. Like to invite them to bring the resources and give it to them. But do not give them resources filled with all these English words. And language is important to allow to show that you're making an effort. Bring the resources make sure it's visually accessible. And pique their interest and just share more about your organization. You don't have to be dramatic about anything. But definitely, you can even ask a deaf kid to join you or a sign language interpreter introducing yourself to them. Think out of the box. Be creative. Perhaps create a blog on your website, so that deaf individuals know what to expect when they come into your shelter. Describe what it looks like. What they can expect, what the process is, what the steps are, what the questions they'll ask so that survivors already know before contacting you what to expect. So be very transparent with the survivors. It's very important to be visual. Especially with Facebook. Most deaf and hard of hearing community use Facebook and social media. So it's very important to be visually accessible. So honor the deaf person and think about visual access. And don't depend on just so much of your ear and hearing. Just think oh, my gosh. I can't hear any access to things. I need noise sound, things like that. If there's no sign language interpreter, you're looking like, oh, my gosh. Where's the closed caption? You're depending on that, right? So that's an example of it reverse for you. So you want to make sure that it's visually accessible for deaf and hard of hearing community members as well to make sure that there is equal access. And it may cost money to adapt those resources. But it is simple, it is good, is accessible, and it is inclusive of the deaf and hard of hearing community. So that's my suggestion and recommendation for you all. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. The $1 million comment just came up from DeAnna. Money, money, money. We have heard ad nauseum from hearing agencies people as a part of the DV/SV system and communities. Oh, I'm sorry we don't have the money. We simply don't have the budget for it. Could you have a volunteer or a signer? No. No, no, no. Put the money in your budget, make the investment, design your budget for access. Make a budget to the line item for access for disabled folks, for deaf community members, for whomever you are not used to providing services for. And also, you talked about information sharing. The conversation earlier about language deprivation and incident-- the deaf community is full of information sharers. And we are very open to sharing-- For example, if somebody purchases a new car-- we'll be then-- the topic of-- We will ask you how much it costs? How much the gas is? How many miles you get on it? I don't get a good deal and then we'll probably go to the-- So information is shared in several means. We share information much more widely than the hearing communities. So we talk about things much more bluntly, much more openly than hearing individuals do. And that's something that hearing folks should probably unpack if you're not prepared to have those types of conversations and/or information share. We also have outreach in connection with community that we'd like to talk about. Please be mindful of the language you use, and make sure that it is not ableist. Make sure that when you use certain language, you do not say things like we are looking for ASL or we are looking for specifically labeled communities. Rather be careful with your semantics And make sure that you have captions on your videos, make sure that you allow for access to happen, whether it be through captions or transcripts. And then any time you use images, please make sure you have identification and description of your images for those who have low vision and/or are deaf blind. Some other strategies that I'd like to share in terms of connecting with our communities are through residential schools for the deaf, organizations that are run by and for deaf folks like deaf clubs. And make sure that you disseminate that information to us. And we will continue to share that information as well. I'm looking that at the chat right now, and it looks like we are at 3:10 PM Eastern time, and it is time for us to open to Q&A. ASHLEY BROMPTON THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Ashley. If it's OK with the audience and with the panelists, I am going to turn off my video during the Q&A. I know that that's not ideal. But just so that people can see you all a little bit clearer. We will keep Jennifer the interpreter up. But just so that the quality of the bandwidth of the video is working better for everyone. Is that OK with you all panelists? I want to check in on that. OK. Got. Some thumbs up. OK. So I'm going to turn off my video. But we have a lot of questions that came in. Probably the most questions we've ever had in one of these webinars honestly. A lot of people picking up on so much of what you are talking about. I do want to raise up some stuff that came up in the chat. People really liked the terminology of a warm body interpreters or having someone there to be not only to provide language and communication access, but also just to be there in person physically a part of the moment. Just wanted to elevate that. There was a lot of really good conversation going on in the chat. But I know sometimes it's hard for panelists to read while they are presenting. So I will save the chat for you panelists. I think there was a lot of really great stuff. People are really enjoying the session thus far. So I just want to make sure you all know that. A lot of questions to go through I want to start with talking about the relationship between people with disabilities and deaf people. Someone asked in the chat about the ways in which people might sometimes when they're thinking about access unintentionally, pit people with disabilities against deaf people. And also, not consider deaf disabled people. And I just wanted to check in with you all and see if you had any questions or any thoughts on that. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. I know there's been a lot of discussion and conversation within our communities about deaf folks and the term disability. And there are several views that folks have. And there are people that are in one camp, where they believe that deaf folks are completely separate from the disability community, and there are others that understand that we're in this together. So right or wrong, the point of the conversation is to acknowledge that American Sign Language is the language of the deaf communities and it's part of deaf culture. I think the goal should not be to design your services for a specific group. Your focus should be on equitable and inclusive provision of services for entire communities, especially marginalized communities. What can you do to make that happen? What is antiracist DV and SV programming? What is anti oddest DB and SV programming? So think of that in terms of the context. Rather than retrofitting your services for a particular population and potentially marginalizing another, envision universal design as the penultimate for all communities, so that any member can come to your organization and receive services. DeAnna and Arcelia, you want to add to that? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: No, not at this time. Next question. ASHLEY BROMPTON THROUGH INTERPRETER: We had a question that came in. That asked when a deaf or hard of hearing person comes in for services, you really emphasize asking about their preferences for providing services. What is the best most trauma informed way to ask what their preferences are? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Arcelia. Well, usually, it would be pretty direct and just say what is your preferences-- what are your preferences with interpreting? Do you want sign language? Do you want something else? They should be able to answer that. Some people might not be able to answer. And then when I find that someone isn't able to answer who by name a preferred interpreter of theirs, I will recommend some off of my list and see who they prefer. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. The other important piece to what Arcelia just mentioned is when you're working with deaf communities. A lot of us are very direct in our communication and prefer to be direct rather than to be ambiguous or to ask us to read between the lines. Because communication from hearing folks. And the nuances that spoken English shares is not accessible to deaf folks and difficult oftentimes to understand. So rather than making your language all flowery, just tell us like it is for communication access rather and language justice. And creating and maintaining relationships. I do know that there are offers workshops specific to interpreters. And we'll be doing so very soon actually. And we'll share the importance of communication in DV and SV work. We've been through these trainings. We are constantly trying to better ourselves. Those of you who are online with us today, upwards of 400 folks are here because you want to learn and provide trauma-informed services to the deaf community. And that goes for interpreters as well. Interpreters need to be trauma informed. And I'll give you an example. I was advocating with a survivor in the criminal justice system. And they wanted an order of protection and asked for my advocacy. We had an interpreter who we had worked with in the court systems a lot. They were not new to the court systems, whatsoever. And when we went into the court system, the staff in the court asked what brings you here today. And the survivor and as a lot of us knew in this work understood the trauma and how it impacts our ability to express and communicate. We experienced this. And we as such sometimes need to monitor our language differently and maneuver the way that we communicate in a different way. So the survivor was sharing their story. And at one point, the interpreter said directly to the deaf survivor, you need to sign clearer. This is a puzzle that I can't put together. And as an advocate, I put everything on hold and connected with the deaf survivor. In later, had to meet with this interpreter because that was such a traumatizing experience for the survivor to interrupt in such a jagged way. And it's important that when we think about interpreters that are working in these agencies, you don't just hire an interpreter because they are an interpreter. Ask the survivor who they want to work with. In addition to for those of you who are hearing folks and just developing your own internal list of trauma-informed interpreters, make sure you have interpreters that work in the field of SB and DV. Survivorship are in the position to provide that service and our trauma informed. ASHLEY BROMPTON THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Ashley. Thank you so much. That was very helpful. We had a question specific to rural settings. So folks who live in areas that don't have as much access to resources and potentially don't have even as much access to the internet, for example. And some solutions around making sure that we are meeting the needs of deaf clients in rural communities. If any of you have any experience with that that you would like to share. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam. DeAnna, you actually work in several rural areas. Could you-- DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: Sure. This is DeAnna speaking. Yes. So there is about 31 rural areas that we work in. And so I've been developing relationships with different domestic violence agencies within those communities. Instead of me driving all that distance every time something happens, I develop those relationships and that rapport. And so that when a survivor is directly connected with that agency and letting them know what they can do and letting them know what I can do with my end, collaborating resources and collaborating, working together. And connecting with those local domestic violence agencies and seeing perhaps maybe there's even a deaf agency or deaf person in that area, so I can connect them with the resource there. And if not, if they're out of state, I'll contact them, get the resources for that state. Information, paperwork, and have all of that ready in my list of resources. And so that I know if this happens or a certain situation happens, I have those resources on hand, instead of me fumbling around trying to figure out take a training remember what I need to do and get a resource on the spot. I have everything. And once this will place easily accessible, so that when the situation occurs, I'm ready and prepared. And so I don't want to be saying they are trying to figure out things. And that will frustrate the situation even further. So I just have something ready. And so just using those resources that other people already had. Especially in rural areas, it can be very tough, especially in domestic violence situations. So it's important to contact network people. And sometimes in rural areas, something else is very difficult is using the videophone of communication. There's not much Wi-Fi access and reception. So if your phone is frequently freezing, and you can't see the interpreter and see the deaf person. So it's very important, again, to network a co advocate together. So I just say that's my recommendation for everybody. ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Arcelia. I think often shelters and service providers contact us through the telephone. So we at hope intentionally work to accommodate what are the communication needs of hearing people. So we download IMO app, Marco Polo, Facebook cameras and survivors contact us through the ways that work for them. So the deaf community really typically depends on social media for information sharing. So sometimes people don't have phones that they can use to reach us. But they can communicate with us through Facebook or in other creative ways that we do our best to accommodate. So that's a way that we keep in touch with our survivors that might look different from how you keep in touch with yours. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. One thing I'd also like to add to that. DeAnna mentioned that the comment about never having deaf survivors come. But that's really something that I think people need to unpack. Why? Why are deaf survivors not coming? Why is it not happening? Why are they not showing up? Is it because they don't feel they can? And that's something that we need to talk about more. Not only there, but within our own community for lack of a better comparison. Yelp. Let's say, for example, if we could have Yelp after you go to a restaurant. And you say this was a four-star five-star experience. And/or what if your experience at an organization was phenomenal? And in the community, we share with each other that, yes, this hearing organization gets it. They totally get it and vise versa. No. This hearing organization has caused further harm to deaf survivors and they cannot get the services that they need. Other comments or thoughts from Arcelia or DeAnna? OK. Ashley, next question. ASHLEY BROMPTON THROUGH INTERPRETER: Thank you all so much. This conversation has been really interesting. We did get a question about something that both Arcelia and DeAnna mentioned in passing, which are some of the barriers that deaf survivors might face in shelters specifically. But this person also asks also during COVID. Are there additional barriers that deaf survivors are facing in shelter? And what that might look like? ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is our Arcelia commenting. To be honest with you, we're having a very hard time placing survivors in shelters at all. Some people are getting placed in hotels. And that works out a little bit better. But so far, I've had exactly one survivor get in a shelter this entire year. So that experience was not bad for them. But then again, I did have the experience of the hearing people are trying to push me aside as a deaf advocate and deal with things without my support. And this is very hard, especially when the survivor may come from out of the country, and doesn't actually understand the way the system works. So it's even tougher for them to figure out how to navigate the systems. And then, of course, dealing with hearing organizations is always challenging. DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is DeAnna signing. Yes, it has definitely been a challenge for me as well to help the survivors during this time. One example would be when it's time to leave the hotel, they don't have any resources. So they have to go. So where do they go next? So they reach out to me. And the only way they can contact me is through texting. And I asked them if they have a video file, so we can fly back and forth. And they're like no I don't know how to use technology. I'm not tech savvy. And then that's when I have to make an exception for the survivor. And so we text back and forth. And then I get creative. And I may contact a domestic violence agency in that area. Because they're not in my service area, which is another barrier. But that does not mean that I can't provide them services. I don't respond because I know. I can't help you because you're not in the service area. No, I reach out to the agency. And even if his last minute, and make that connection. And I have to think quick because if three or four hours before they have to leave the hotel, so everything is happening very quickly. They want help. So I'm trying to make connections. As long as they give me that permission, I need to release the information. Until I don't have time. We have to get the ball rolling now because this is the window of opportunity. And so they usually let me speak with them. But then they tell me that the shelters are full. There are no beds. And so we have to figure out find another shelter for a temporary emergency assistance like an apartment or something like that while we wait. And so that's one example of something that's been happening consistently with the pandemic. And there are so many rises in domestic violence cases right now too. That I'm not getting the same calls as before. I'm working from home. And I'm using my video phone. So that's been a bit of a barrier as well during this time. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam commenting. We just have a few minutes left. I want to say thank you to both DeAnna and Arcelia. And if you wouldn't mind with some closing thoughts or nuggets that you'd like for the audience to leave with today as we wrap up our series. ARCELIA AGUILAR THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Arcelia. I'd like to share that I took an 18-month training with Praxis, which is an advocacy learning center. And through that training, I learned a particular practice for advocacy that said don't be afraid of time. Use time to connect with the survivor. And that really had such a huge impact on me. That then set the tone for how I've approached my advocacy since then. And I have seen what a benefit it is to truly, deeply connect with survivors. And I think you can best serve survivors by connecting with them. DEANNA SWOPE THROUGH INTERPRETER: This Is DeAnna signing. I think it's important to make sure that you're mentally and emotionally available to actively listen to the survivor. And some survivors you meet, they will be tangential, and they will go on, and on, and on. And if you ask them a question like, what happened today? And the death survivor will say OK. So 10 years ago, and they'll start their story. And you want to back up. So it's important not to completely cut them off. And I know I did it. Some people can be a bit long winded. But it's important to check in with yourself. And really bring in someone. You don't want to traumatize them. So again, mentally, emotionally, and physically available to actively listen. But it's sometimes the best advice to come up and say the survival will come in. And then hearing person will say I don't know what's got me. And I have to help them de-escalate. And it's OK. First, maybe with gestures. You have to make an effort. Don't immediately sit back and shot and don't do anything. Make an effort to interact with them. And so again, my tips are emotionally, and mentally available, and make an effort to communicate gestures or something. Make them feel welcome in your place, you're setting, your shelter. So those are my two little nuggets. LIAM ESPOSITO THROUGH INTERPRETER: This is Liam signing. I was giggling at the long winded comment of DeAnna. We've been there. And I would like to add some context to that laughter. In our community, that's really important for us oftentimes to be long winded because information is so crucial to us and context helps us set the stage for what's happening now. It's not like we go on for no reason. So while we may be called long winded from hearing individuals, it's quite the opposite for deaf folks. And personally, what I'd like to offer in addition to what Arcelia and DeAnna both said is that in my 20 plus years in this work and as a survivor myself, I think that personal relationships and the building with each other as colleagues or people in the field with communities, with Black and Brown and Indigenous deaf, LGBTQI folks. Those relationships or how we show up. Those relationships are how we sit down, shut up, and listen, especially to marginalized communities. This is how we do the work. It's not just to be here and take in. But now, it's to take that information and do something with it. Help make this world an equitable and just place. Check your hearing privilege. Check all of your privileges. With that, I would like to thank you all for joining us today. And Ashley, from closing words. ASHLEY BROMPTON THROUGH INTERPRETER: Hi. This is Ashley. Thank you all so much. DeAnna, Arcelia, Liam. I can't say enough about how helpful this was for our audience. As you can see, the chat is just going wild with thank you's. We do have some questions that we were unable to address. I do hope that this is the beginning of the conversation and not the end. I think that there is just a lot for folks to unpack around this and to learn around this. And I appreciate all of you in our audience for taking the time today to be a part of this, and really heeding that call to action that Liam gave you, which is take all of this information, and implement it in your organization, and figure out how it can work for you. As a reminder, the recording of the webinar will be available in about 10 days. And the materials and the resource guide that we created that has some resources that you can use. Some of which were referenced today are available in the participant materials folder. That again, we'll post the link in the chat and we will also make sure that link is included in your follow up email. And with that, thank you all so much for your time today. I really appreciate it. And have a great afternoon.