Learning Engagement: Power of Language

Language plays a crucial role in the context of anti-violence organizations working in the Deaf communities. Language deprivation and limited access to the ever-changing vocabulary utilized in survivor advocacy work remains an ongoing challenge for Deaf advocates.


In this Learning Engagement, we will explore the language of our movement. How are we discussing our work with survivors internally? How do we adjust to share information with our diverse communities and bring them along in a process of learning. While it can be as simple as "how are we signing stalking" it goes much deeper than that as we explore how our language reflects our values. How are we removing ableism, racism, other forms of oppression from our communication? How do we implement plain language tools in our work?

In the first session, a panel of advocates will consider these questions and more. We will have a collective discussion in the second session.