Herstory

On March 1998, five Deaf women from Rochester, New York, participated in a week-long intensive training program that was provided by Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services (ADWAS), the first internationally known Deaf-run domestic violence and sexual assault agency, in Seattle, Washington. These women were: Beth Anne Metlay, Sharon C. Staehle, S. Martina Moore-Reid, Sharon Haynes, and Vicki T. Hurwitz.

Founders: Sharon Haynes, Vicki Hurwitz, Martina Moore-Reid, Beth Metlay, Sharon Staehle

The training was made possible because Marilyn J. Smith, founder and Executive Director of ADWAS, received a one-year grant from the Office from Victims of Crime (OVC) under the U.S.  Department of Justice that allowed her to share the ADWAS model with five cities in America. Rochester was chosen as one of the five cities for this project due to its readiness. The training covered issues of domestic  violence, sexual assault, community organizing, and the nuts and bolts of setting up a program similar to ADWAS.

The other cities that received training included: Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; and San Francisco/Bay Area, California. ADWAS trained people from 10 more cities over the next two years. Currently, ADWAS holds a biennial Justice for Deaf Victims National Coalition (JDVNC) conference for Deaf domestic violence/sexual assault agencies.

From 1998 to 2009, the ASADV team was purely made up of volunteers. Paid staff was finally made possible  in January 2010. ASADV received two federal grants in the fall of 2009. One was from the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence Against Women (OVW), under the Cultural & Linguistic Grant program. This was a joint application with ADWAS. The other grant was from the Americans Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), part of the stimulus package, and was awarded to ASADV by the NYS Department of Criminal Justice Services (DCJS).

ASADV Executive Directors:

  • Vicki Hurwitz (1998 — 2001)
  • Sharon Staehle (2001 — 2003)
  • Vicki Hurwitz (2003 — 2006)
  • Mary Mowl (2006 — 2008)
  • Sharon Haynes (2008 — 2009)
  • Erin Esposito (2010 — Present)