Founded in 2008, Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association is a national charity run by deaf women from minority groups. It delivers work such as social events, drama workshops and art therapy to empower BME deaf women to have choice and control over all aspects of their lives. Here, we speak to DEWA about how Voices from the Frontline funding has helped them raise awareness of injustices faced by deaf women across the UK.
Deaf women in the UK face so many injustices and inequalities. They often don’t have the chance to open up about them. We wanted to raise awareness of their experiences, especially for those who don’t have the literacy skills to share their stories. Our aim was to create safe space for women to talk about how they’re feeling. In turn, this helps reduce their anxiety and build confidence. Many DEWA members and new participants found a voice for the first time. They felt confident to share their stories, which they had never done before. There was an openness and willingness to talk about feelings, which helped to relieve anxiety.
We captured their stories and formed them into a narrative that became our campaign film. People shared it 3,700 times on social media, helping to raise public awareness of the challenges faced by deaf women. This kind of international reach helps more deaf women and girls to see they’re not alone. It also encourages them to bring about change for themselves and others.
Developing women’s leadership skills became an important part of the campaign, too. When women didn’t feel confident to express themselves, others were able to take the lead and articulate on their behalf. It became clear to us that there’s huge language deprivation for many of the women we support. We need to do something about it. Funding helped us to produce factual information to raise awareness of the specific economic injustices faced by deaf ethnic women.
Support from Rosa has helped the team at Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association to arrange meetings with other women’s organisations in our local area. By getting involved in discussions, we’ve realised that many of us face similar challenges and barriers to funding and raising awareness of the issues we are addressing. Coming together is helping us to strengthen alliances and spread our message further.
Deaf women are starting to speak out about the inequality they experience in the world of employment. They’re also articulating some of the trauma and frustration that comes with that experience. Our next step is to influence service providers, as well as local and national government. We’re also looking at ways to help deaf ethnic women to approach their managers and organisations to make positive change.
Visit Deaf Ethnic Women’s Association’s website and follow @DEWA_UK on Twitter.