Deaf-initely Women: Together, we are stronger:
Signature recently reached out to Deaf-initely Women, an organisation that brings deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind women together. Deaf-initely Women serves all deaf and hard of hearing women in Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham, and Nottinghamshire and beyond. Here at Signature, we believe it is really important that those with varying degrees of deafness receive the support they need. To find out more about this organisation, carry on reading:
- Who set up Deaf-initely Women and what was the initial reason?
It started with 10 deaf female friends meeting together on a regular basis providing each other with emotional support. One evening they said how fortunate they were, they all said how they appreciated each other’s support throughout many years of being friends, sharing their lived experiences of being a deaf woman, mother, grandmother, carer and as an employee. They decided to share their knowledge and experience with other deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing women living in Derby and Derbyshire. Hence, they applied for small funding to host their first four workshops, and these were hugely popular, and they wanted more!
They then applied for bigger funding and secured bigger and for the first time, they employed three new staff in 2018.
2. Can you explain why it’s so important to bring deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing women together?
Women with many different backgrounds have many different skills but a lot of deaf women (born or became deaf from an early age deaf/deaf BSL) have a strong sense of deaf pride but tend to experience barriers to mainstream services for support. Those who acquire hearing loss tend to struggle to come to terms with their new identity and we tell them ways to manage difficult situations in everyday life. It was very important for deaf women to share their new skills/experiences to understand how to access the communication clearly and reduce the isolating.
Through bringing together those with acquired hearing loss and those who were born deaf, individuals were able to share the empathy of different communication needs. It allowed us to teach others how to share the support and in turn reduced isolation and built emotional resilience.
3. What has been your proudest moment at Deaf-initely Women?
We have lots of proud moments. One from enabling a woman with severe deafblindness gain employment with a charity. Another key moment was when we enabled a deaf woman to understand how formulas work on MS Excel.
Additionally, we feel a great sense of pride when we read and listen to all the great feedback from deaf women to say how supportive Deaf-initely Women are. (All staff, from a wide range of backgrounds with lived experience, are exceptional workers that ensure deaf women have their voices heard and are inclusive and well supported.
4. It was great to read about the recent performance of “The Vagina Monologues” which raised money for your organisation. Can you explain the importance of this fundraiser performance?
Deafinitely Theatre got in touch with us and felt that our charity Deaf-initely Women is unique as it is governed, managed, and delivered by 100% deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing women supported by a range of communication support workers and advanced technology.
They know that we offer valuable much needed support to all deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing women. Deaf-initely Women Board members, staff and volunteers have a deep understanding of deafness, range of communication needs, deaf culture, linguistics, and the complexities that come with social conditioning.
5. What differing services do you provide, and why are they all so important?
We provide a range of services including health-related information sessions, workshops, training, advocacy, and Deaf Abuse Free services. Every service is equally important to all deaf women who need to access the services they require.
6. What do you think are the main barriers facing deaf women?
Communication is the biggest barrier, lack of understanding of deafness, cultural and linguistic and the complexities that come with social conditioning. Also, it is very difficult to find local interpreters for many other local services.
7. Finally, do you have any future goals that you are eager to achieve at Deaf-initely Women?
We want to ensure that all deaf, deafblind, and hard-of-hearing women feel they are safe from harm and to know where they can get free support from.
We aim to build deaf women’s confidence, resilience, and independence with full access to information to make informed choices. We also believe that deaf women should be heard and respected. We want to make sure that deaf or hard-of-hearing women know that they can access our range of services including employability, advocacy and free training and workshops.
Thank you to the team at Deaf-initely Women for sharing more about such an important organisation. We wish them luck in the future.
