The hairs on my arm stood erect. Rochester was chilly today – the temperature hovered in the low 70s – but the weather wasn’t the reason for my goosebumps.

Mary Mowl and Vicki Hurwitz laugh as they recall "boot camp"!

“One in three women experience domestic violence of some sort,” Mary Mowl signed, a look of sadness crossing her face. Her hands fall softly on her lap, one on top of another. Mowl, Executive Director of the Advocacy Services for Abused Deaf Victims (ASADV), along with Vicki Hurwitz, one of the founders and current President, met with DeafNation to speak about ASADV. “We’re also inclined to believe the numbers are similar for Deaf women – mainly due to lack of communication accessibility and information on domestic violence.”

Lack of communication accessibility and information on domestic violence were only a few of the plethora of reasons why ASADV was established. When asked how it all began, Hurwitz spoke of the 1993 Deaf Women United Conference in New Jersey, where she sat in on a domestic violence presentation by Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services President and founder Marilyn Smith. “[Marilyn]…left me – and the whole audience – mesmerized, and in chills,” Hurwitz shivered. “That’s when I knew I had to set up something similar in Rochester.” Coupled with her social work background and work at the Health Center at RIT – where she saw many Deaf women suffer through sexual assault – Hurwitz was determined to make it happen.

Hurwitz approached Smith, who had then received a one-year grant from the Office of Victims of Crime (under the U.S. Department of Justice), allowing her to share her ADWAS model with five women from five cities around America. After much talk, it was determined that Rochester would be one of the five cities.

Gathering up her five women – Hurwitz herself, Sharon Haynes (currently the Advocate Coordinator at ASADV), Martina Moore-Reid, Beth Metlay, and Sharon Staehle – flew to Seattle for “…boot camp!,” laughs Hurwitz. There, the five women went through a grueling, intensive week-long training program, covering everything from sexual assault to domestic violence to community organizing. They also learned the in’s-and-out’s of setting up a program similar to ADWAS. From training, the five women were able to establish ASADV in March of 1998, setting up a Board, becoming a non-profit organization, and training advocates.

Those interested in becoming advocates must go through 72 hours of training – provided by Advocate Coordinator Haynes – on domestic violence and sexual assault, such as rape, incest, stalking, inappropriate workplace conduct, and much more. “Advocates are not counselors,” Mowl stressed, going on to explain that the volunteer advocates do not provide counseling/psychiatry services, but rather, serve as a sounding board and a support system. They accompany victims to police stations to fill out restraining orders, go to court dates, develop safety plans, and the like. “All sessions between the advocate and the victim are 100% confidential,” Hurwitz added.

“With our new office downtown Rochester equipped with a videophone (VP), we’re hoping to be more accessible to those residing in Monroe County,” Hurwitz signed. “We’ve come a long way – at first people were wary of ASADV, afraid that if they came to us, information would leak. They also considered domestic violence a very private matter. But it’s been ten years and….information has never been leaked.”

It’s no wonder, then, that the Rochester Deaf community has become staunch supporters of this non-profit organization, with many of Rochester Recreational Club for the Deaf members and RIT faculty, staff, and students getting involved with ASADV. One of the most recent projects was a play titled “Lily Loves Charlie, OK?” All proceeds went to ASADV. While ASADV receives donations (both monetary and in-kind), more often than not, it’s not enough.

“We’re trying to get a full-time staff member to work at ASADV…while we’ve come a long way, we’re still looking to expand and offer more resources,” Mowl affirmed. “We’ve been around for ten years…[and] we intend to be around for much longer.”

Want to help, donate, or read more about the organization? Go to http://www.asadv.org.

Programs like ADWAS have also been set up in the following cities: Austin, Texas; Boston, Massachusetts; Minneapolis/St. Paul, Minnesota; and the San Francisco/Bay Area, California.

Anthony Mowl, Mary Mowl, Vicki Hurwitz, and Mich Gerson