Over the past month I have been working on a tool kit designed specifically for a topic called “disability mainstreaming.” Disability mainstreaming is the act or strategy of including the needs/perspectives of PWD into all programs, projects and organizations. The act of mainstreaming disability can be done in various ways; one way I have researched is the strategy of implementing knowledge on disabilities into an entire organization. This can be done by training staff in dis

Welcome to the fifth installment of Organizational Spotlight! Our focus this week is the Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA), which is a non-governmental organization that works to support the empowerment of deaf adults in the United States. ALDA classifies “late deafened adults” as “people who have lost the ability to understand speech with or without hearing aids after acquiring spoken language”, according to their website. As part of their work, this incredible orga

I am very excited to announce that this week’s installment of Organizational Spotlight will be a sneak-peek into my systematic review of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) worldwide that work with people with disabilities! This review was conducted in hopes of finding areas of the world where support for people with disabilities, especially those who are deaf or hard of hearing, is lacking, as well as regions where NGOs are doing a sufficient job tackling the needs of this

Hi everyone! The past few weeks at DOW has been very busy! As a Digital Storytelling and Social Media intern I have been researching ways to engage an audience with our website and social media. I always viewed the internet as a way to for people to connect no matter the distance. With technology, the world can literally be at your fingertips. However, not everyone is fortune enough to have access to the internet. This is why it’s so important that we, as DOW, use our platfor

This week I took some time and I sat down to explore the DOW webpage, specifically I focused on reading the stories of the eight students that DOW supports. I enjoyed reading each students story and getting to know more about them; I also really enjoyed watching the videos of a few of the students signing and telling the people viewing about themselves. I am so grateful that these wonderful students have the opportunity to attend De La Bat Skool and Gallaudet University. Each

Hey everyone, long time no talk! Sorry I haven’t been blogging, but I am back to it. For DOW recently I have been focusing my time on thinking about and researching different ideas for a fundraising campaign. I’ve spent the last few weeks doing the research and now the next few weeks will consist of me creating the campaign we will be doing for DOW this year, and finding strategies to implement in. This week I have been working on creating a timeline for the campaign along wi

Welcome to the third installment of Organizational Spotlight! I hope you are enjoying reading about these incredible organizations as much as I am enjoying researching and writing about them! This week’s focus is Enabling Education Network (EENET), which is an NGO based in Manchester, United Kingdom that promotes regional networking and information sharing on inclusive education in developing countries. As part of their mission disclosed on their website, EENET “[focuses] on

This week I read several articles about how to develop a nonprofit business plan, one in particular that caught my attention was titled A Business Plan Can Help Make Your Nonprofit Successful. According to Joanne Fritz, author of A Business Plan Can Help Make Your Nonprofit Successful, every nonprofit needs a business plan in order to “persuade major donors or foundations to fund them, to recruit board members, to serve as a compass for their organization (so there is no conf

These last two weeks I have found myself thinking a lot about Deaf identity and pride. It saddens me to think that Deaf individuals are sometimes seen as less capable people due to a difference in hearing ability. In fact, I believe that being deaf is not something that should be pitied or seen as a disability, but rather just another difference. We all have differences, and these differences make us who we are. Being deaf versus hearing does change one's perspectives, experi

Welcome back to Organizational Spotlight; the best place to learn about the incredible missions of non-profit organizations worldwide! As an organization, DOW values the outstanding efforts of NGOs that strive to support deaf people in reaching their full potential, especially in the education sector. For this reason, we are excited to highlight the work of other organizations that have missions and visions similar to DOW’s and show our support for what they are engaged in to