The webinar ‘ALBA Platform for Information and Counseling on Gender-based Violence Accessible to Deaf Women’ organized by the State Confederation of Deaf People (CNSE) has highlighted the multiple barriers faced by deaf victims of this violence.
As Alba Prado and Cristina López, professionals in the area of Gender Equality Policies at CNSE and hosts of the webinar, have pointed out, having a team of experts in gender-based violence who are also knowledgeable about the deaf community from a linguistic and cultural minority perspective helps these women feel «more comfortable and secure.»
During the webinar, Prado, a deaf professional from the ALBA platform, emphasized that despite the fact that 57% of the deaf population in Spain are women, the gender-based violence they have to endure «remains largely silenced.» «The lack of accessibility, invisibility, and factors such as intersectionality increase their vulnerability to this type of aggression,» she denounced.
The webinar provided a comprehensive view of the different forms of gender-based violence that affect deaf women, from the most visible, such as physical or sexual violence, to more subtle or less recognized forms, such as psychological, economic, vicarious, cultural, or linguistic violence. As Cristina López, another professional at ALBA, acknowledged, «in many cases, they don’t even realize they are experiencing it, let alone what they can do, what rights they have, or what resources are available to them.»
Therefore, the platform—funded by the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumption, and Agenda 2030, the Government Delegation for Gender-based Violence, and the ONCE Foundation—offers a website with information and materials such as guides, studies, legislation, and protocols translated into Spanish Sign Language. In addition, there is a space for testimonials to help other women identify these situations and seek help, as well as an accessible resource repository where victims can turn to file a complaint.
Since its inception in 2018, ALBA has provided information to over 100 victims and their close circles, trained public and private entities on the reality of deaf women, and actively contributed to raising awareness about this issue.
«It’s like a light at the end of the tunnel,» Prado emphasizes, referring to the platform’s name. «We want to shed that light to combat, as much as possible, this serious situation of disadvantage that poses so much risk to the safety and health of deaf women,» she added.
Both speakers explained that to contact the platform, a video call in Spanish Sign Language, email, or chat channel is available, according to the users’ preferences, always «preserving the anonymity and confidentiality of the caller.»
FUENTE