Gallaudet college students journey to North Carolina to study from communities recovering after Hurricane Helene | Certificates in Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Planning

When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in September 2024, catastrophic flooding and landslides impacted residents throughout the area — together with many within the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind communities. Dozens of individuals shared these harrowing experiences with Gallaudet college students at an occasion in July that was hosted by the Asheville Deaf Church and Smokey Mountain Deaf Club.

“Their stories were powerful and important to learn about the experiences of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people during and after disasters. One woman specifically discussed how she lived by herself and was unable to get any help or information for over three days,” says Claire Coffey, one in every of six college students who traveled to North Carolina for the 2025 Summer Institute held by Gallaudet’s Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction & Emergency Planning Program (DEP).

Thanks to a partnership with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DSDHH), the DEP group was invited to go to affected areas, meet with group organizations and emergency administration businesses, and current their insights on how you can enhance the response to future disasters.

Understanding the state and native response

The 10-day journey was an opportunity for college kids to pool their cumulative data and apply it, says DEP Director Dr. Audrey Cooper, who was excited to provide them a close-up have a look at what occurs on the native and state ranges previous to, throughout, and following an emergency. She is very grateful to DSDHH Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Donna Platt, G-’90, who’s one in every of solely two individuals within the nation to have such a job targeted on Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. “When we started DEP, she reached out to me because she wanted to learn more about our unique program,” Cooper says. The aftermath of Helene offered a chance to construct on that relationship.

Platt says that everybody who met with the scholars was honored to assist the DEP’s mission. “Survivors were open to sharing their experiences and in responding to students’ questions,” she says. “It was helpful to see what the challenges were and what needed to be improved in order to strengthen communication access for individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind.”

In addition to connecting with DSDHH workers at three Regional Centers and the DSDHH central workplace, DEP college students had web site visits with the NOAA-National Centers for Environmental Information (Asheville), Henderson County Emergency Management (Hendersonville), NC Emergency Management (Raleigh), NOAA-National Weather Service Raleigh Forecast Office (Raleigh), and the NC Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network (Durham). Dr. Kristin Todd, Superintendent of the North Carolina School for the Deaf (Morganton), coordinated a presentation on the varsity’s emergency preparedness, throughout which Broughton Hospital Deaf Unit Director, Dr. Candice Tate, PhD ’06, offered and likewise organized a group occasion for the Deaf group in Morganton to debate their experiences with Hurricane Helene.

Creating alternatives for individuals to share experiences

For DEP pupil Toska Broadway, probably the most significant moments have been after they met with Deaf individuals who had skilled the hurricane. A tour of catastrophe websites with Rey Castillo, a Deaf volunteer photographer for the Swannanoa Fire & Rescue Department, was significantly transferring. “He shared stories about what happened in different neighborhoods and to different families, which gave me a better understanding of the impact and the resilience of the community,” Broadway says. “Seeing the disaster sites firsthand made everything we’ve been learning feel more real and immediate. It was a true boots-on-the-ground experience that brought the work to life in a way that reading or talking about it never could.” 

That occasion hosted by the Asheville Deaf Church and Smokey Mountain Deaf Club was the primary time that the group in that space had come collectively for the reason that hurricane. ​​North Carolina State Representative Brian Turner attended along with his spouse, Hope Turpin Turner, G-’21, who’s a Deaf member of the NC Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Representative Turner posted on his Facebook account, “We can do better by our neighbors and this was a good opportunity to learn from the tragedy that was and still is in many ways with us.”

Having entry to so many individuals allowed the Gallaudet college students to survey the affect of Hurricane Helene in three distinct areas. “People told me they were so incredibly impressed by the level of preparation, the gravity the students brought to meetings, and how committed they were to learning and listening to the local community and professionals,” Cooper says. “The only way we’re going to advance anything is with respect, compassion, and a lot of creativity.”

Presenting concepts for the longer term

The college students pulled their findings into a strong presentation that they delivered to the DSDHH Community Accessibility Specialists, Regional Center Managers, and a few of the DSDHH Disaster Core Team Members. The presentation featured “empathy mapping,” a method of anonymously quoting considerations that individuals confronted throughout the hurricane, reminiscent of “no ASL interpreter at meetings,” “no cell service/power/internet,” and “worried about Deaf friends.”

This methodology resonated with group members concerned within the decision-making course of, explains DEP pupil Rachel Qualls. “They expressed genuine interest in using it to see the big picture of how their community thinks, feels, says, and does. Watching their excitement and willingness to adopt this approach was deeply rewarding. It showed me that the knowledge I’ve gained can directly benefit others in meaningful ways,” she says.

DSDHH Director Tony Davis, G-’11, has invited the scholars to current once more for the complete DSDHH division in addition to Deaf customers/group members this fall.

To Cooper, the optimistic reception is an indication that individuals within the subject acknowledge the worth of what Deaf and Hard of Hearing emergency professionals are doing, and the worth of Gallaudet’s DEP Program in offering this important coaching. “Emergency management organizations need people with training like the students are getting in the DEP. There are very few people with access to this training who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing,” she says. “They need to know there is now starting to be a pool of people they can draw on. They’re not protecting the whole community if they don’t get the right professionals on board.”

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Find out extra concerning the Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction & Emergency Planning Program (DEP), an 18-credit graduate certificates and undergraduate minor program that trains professionals to work within the rising fields of catastrophe and emergency administration.