National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA) has long been an organization focused on advocacy and supporting the advancement of Black Deaf people in every sector of public life. In the past month many individuals and organizations have reached out to NBDA and drawn our attention to several allegations of racial bias, systemic discrimination, and unfair treatment against Black Deaf students, teachers, and support staff at schools for the deaf across the nation. These patterns of behavior, policies, and/or practices are mostly systematic in nature, and may be part of the structure of even notable schools for the deaf, all of which create and perpetuate disadvantages for Deaf people of color.
NBDA as the leading advocacy organization of Black Deaf and Hard of Hearing people in the United States takes seriously allegations of this nature. We have decided to move forward with plans to support NBDA chapters and members-at-large in their work to address these issues in a variety of ways. Additionally, NBDA is developing a national plan for anyone to reach out to us for support in advocacy efforts regarding people of color in the school system (students, teachers, support staff, families, etc.) by embarking on a wide range of investigations and we are currently finalizing next steps. NBDA will be decisive in pursuing every available avenue to seek redress for this issue, and welcome partnerships with any organization that would like to collaborate in our advocacy efforts.
For more information on how to join us in taking action, please reach NBDA at advocacy@nbda.org
Yours in Advocacy,
National Black Deaf Advocates
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