#AdvocacyMatters: Is This Thing On?

June 14, 2024 / #AdvocacyMatters

The stories we tell and the ways we reach out really matter. No matter what language you speak, zip code you have, or what your favorite family meal may be, it matters to all of us to be fully seen. We are striving to serve the people in our community whose stories may not have yet been told. Those who’s mic was never fully turned on. That’s why one of our current projects hopes to aide with informational videos that will be available in multiple languages, with native speakers at the forefront.

At DRO we will always provide and continue to share multiple language versions of our highest priority materials. Even with this accessibility in mind, we started to see a need for someone to help us speak directly to unheard communities in their native language – no translator necessary. To find the right people for this job and to hear each individual community in full, we are hosting listening sessions with various non-English speaking communities to fulfill this goal.

This work is hard - and is made harder by the fact that non-English speakers with disabilities are often disconnected from the conversation of disability rights. We need your help to bridge that gap. If you or someone you know has a strong connection to a community or organization of non-English speakers with disabilities, we want to hear from you. You can contact our communications inbox at communications@disabilityrightsohio.org to let us know of the community you hope to see represented, or to connect us with someone you know would benefit from this project. Additionally, if you want to share our project explainer or learn more about the project overall, you can find that here: https://disabilityrightsohio.org/assets/documents/video-awareness-project-explainer.pdf.

It's time for us to pull our wealth of resources in all of you – and work together to bridge the gap for non-English speaking Ohioans with disabilities. #AdvocacyMatters