Deaf Community Research

Thank you, from the bottom of our hearts, for your continued support of the Global Deaf Research Institute. The heart of our Deaf Community Research initiative is in the name: the community, and we're so happy to have you as part of ours. Your early support has been a driving force behind our progress, and we are incredibly grateful for your continued belief in our mission.

With that said, we’re excited to update you on the work your support has enabled in the last three months!

Exciting Developments

June was a busy month for GDRI! 

We had the incredible opportunity to attend the 2024 UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in New York City. It was a powerful experience, allowing us to meet global leaders in the disability rights field and make valuable connections for future deployments. We showcased our research and strengthened our partnerships with other organizations committed to disability rights. GDRI stood next to other world-class organizations like the World Federation of the Deaf and UNICEF, and made our case for the importance of involving deaf researchers in the collection of disability data. Spending a week with so many representatives from civil society was incredibly motivating - there is some incredible work being done in the world, and we were grateful to have been included. 

The week at the UN was also an opportunity to put our new full time Director of Operations through his paces! We are thrilled to welcome Chris Medeiros as GDRI’s Director of Operations. Chris has been working with us since 2022 on a part-time volunteer basis but starting in June, thanks in large part to your generosity, we were able to bring him on full-time. His dedication and expertise will be vital in steering our organization through its first operating year, and we are confident that his leadership will greatly expand our impact. Welcome Chris!

In addition to our internal advancements, we are pleased to report success from our two fundraisers, held in the Fire Island Pines at the end of June. We raised a total of $22,600 thanks to the amazing support of our community and the hard work of our volunteers. We’re deeply thankful for everyone who made this possible.

And finally, a HUGE thank you to all of you that participated in our GlobalGiving “July Bonus Day” drive! Out of more than 3000 organizations participating, GDRI was 89th in total donations, raising a total of $4,330 and receiving $1200 in matched funds from GlobalGiving! Thank you!

Looking Ahead

We’re gearing up for something truly exciting: the first full-length deployment of Deaf Community Research in Ecuador, starting this September. Building on the lessons from our pilot in Nigeria last November, we will take this first, important step towards filling the gaps in global health data on deaf populations and establishing ourselves as an organization. Our research team will spend roughly 5 months on deployment, connecting with local deaf communities and gathering seminal quality of life data on their quality of life. We are currently partnering with the national deaf organization, la Federación Nacional de Personas Sordas del Ecuador (FENASEC), and look forward to the new connections we will make once we arrive. GDRI is committed to community-based participatory research, which means our subjects take part in the creation of our research. These local deaf organizations will be important stakeholders in the design and implementation of our first official quality of life assessment. We will be setting the tone for the years to come, and are brimming with excitement to get started!

The Power of Your Support

As GDRI continues to make strides, your ongoing support is more important than ever. Your contributions are transformative, allowing us to conduct future research, advocate for rights, and implement programs that make a real difference in the lives of deaf individuals worldwide. 

We are currently only $4000 shy of our budget’s halfway point. Achieving this will put us on track to deploy in our SECOND country in 2025: the Dominican Republic! The importance of each additional deployment cannot be overstated: with each deployment, we publish data on a deaf population who up till now has only been studied by hearing scientists. Each deployment will connect us to new deaf organizations, who become ongoing GDRI partners, and grow our network of support for deaf leaders, educators, organizers, and advocates around the world. 

 Please, consider signing up to make a recurring donation - for only $10 a month, you can help create lasting change for the deaf community.

Thank you one last time for your unwavering support. We look forward to sharing more updates with you and celebrating our continued progress together.