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January 25, 2006
Group advocates for deaf women
Marilyn J. Smith is determined to make sure that no other deaf woman suffers like she did. Twenty-five years after she was raped, Smith’s passion stirred a nationwide movement to change the rights of deaf crime victims. Smith, the executive director of Abused Deaf Women's Advocacy Services, said she was victimized over and over again by the system. She said that when she was raped in 1970, police didn’t understand sign language and treat her case as a crime.
"I carried that anger and those feelings and the sense of injustice for many, many years until I finally established ADWAS," she said
ADWAS offers deaf victims the help they need, whether it's counseling, education or safe housing referrals.
One victim, identified only as Cathy, said ADWAS helped her years after her husband abused her emotionally and physically. She was glad “to know there are people there that understood about my experience ... people I could share my experience with in my own language.”
ADWAS is still growing. It takes all deaf and hard-of-hearing calls for the National Domestic Violence Hotline.
The group is also a model for similar programs in 15 other cities.
"I never thought we would have come so far where we would be asked to change the way that deaf America is thinking and addressing violence,” Smith said.
By Martie Salt, News 14 Carolina
http://www.news14charlotte.com/content/living/smart_woman/default.asp?ArID=111805
Posted by 4HL on January 25, 2006 1:24 PM
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