|
||
Press Release
Oakland, California - On March 17, 2011, DeafHope launched a social media movement called “DeafHope’s Lavender Revolution”. This was established to raise awareness of violence against Deaf women and their children. It is the beginning of a new era where survivors of domestic and sexual violence can break the pattern of isolation, shame and silence by discovering a new source of empowering dialogue called “Social Media”.
Instead of using blogs, video versions of blogs, called vlogs, are used by the Deaf Community. The first few vlogs that are part of this campaign are posted on on DeafHope’s website at http://www.Deaf-Hope.org. These videos include public service announcements (PSAs) created by Deaf community members from several regions of California such as Sacramento, SF Bay Area, Fresno, Los Angeles, Riverside, and San Diego. The process involving the Deaf community members in these regions in creating the PSAs, is very empowering. It is also a powerful avenue to learn about domestic and sexual violence happening in their own Deaf communities. After understanding domestic and sexual violence, the Deaf community members involved in these videos work with the video director, Julie Rems-Smario, who is also the Executive Director of DeafHope, to create the script for the PSA. “By sharing our stories, poetry, knowledge, and talent, we break the isolation, shame and silence. It also a wonderful way to keep ourselves constantly inspired along within our journey of thriving and recovering from the trauma through our stories. It promotes our success as “thrivers”, says Rems-Smario. DeafHope’s Lavender Revolution is a powerful social media tool for Deaf survivors of domestic and sexual violence. It can help them thrive past the trauma of the abuse by focusing on their strengths, talents and resilience. Deaf survivors can advocate for each other sharing their wisdom and knowledge. Awareness, advocacy and tools about domestic and sexual violence are also shared through social media outlets such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Vimeo, and e-newsletters. DeafHope’s Lavender Revolution is the beginning of the uprising by the Deaf women survivors for the right to lead healthy lives and relationships free of violence and oppression. Now working as the Lavender Revolution Social Media Coordinator, Natalee “Natty"Franck has already emerged herself into this new project. Since last spring, she has worked as a hotline volunteer for DeafHope. With that experience and training under her belt, she was ready to be part of the social change. “Lavender Revolution is an opportunity for the Deaf community to learn how to remove the stigma of domestic and sexual violence. DeafHope has the commitment to share resources, encourage open dialogue and reach out for unity of Deaf people to fight all kinds of oppression, especially to educate that we are born to thrive, not to suffer from their power and control being taken away,” say Franck. This social media project is made possible by a grant from Verizon Foundation. “Verizon is driven to use the power of our technology and philanthropic dollars to address critical social issues,” said Verizon Director Holly Cole. “Because one in four women in America will experience domestic violence in her lifetime, Verizon is compelled to help break the cycle of abuse. We are proud to partner with DeafHope in this innovative and creative use of social media to be a positive force for change.”
The first PSA that was launched to announce the Lavender Revolution campaign was produced by Sign World TV, a Deaf-owned company owned by CJ Jones. This video was created in the Los Angeles area involving Deaf students from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) and Deaf women who live near the campus. The second PSA, called the “STOP DV!” Promo, was produced by Lenois Productions, also a Deaf-owned company, owned by Jon Savage. The narrators in this PSA are secondary survivors from DeafHope who lost their dear friends to domestic violence. The next video projects will be filmed in the Sacramento, Fresno, and San Diego communities. The Deaf women in those areas have already been contacted and their PSA projects are underway. Joni Teague, Chair of DeafHope’s Board of Directors added, “"DeafHope’s Lavender Revolution is about reaching Deaf women everywhere through social media and empowering ourselves to “ stand up” against domestic and sexual violence in our own language, American Sign language.”
|
