Community Education
HEARD’s community education includes offerings for currently and formerly incarcerated people, their loved ones, legal advocates, disabled communities, and accomplices.
Public Education Team
The Public Education Team (PET) is a group of formerly incarcerated disabled/deaf people, and their loved ones, who are impacted by prison and policing systems. Each round of PET includes four-to-six months of gatherings where we develop our skills as peer educators, learn about systems of policing, explore the history of abolition and prisons, and learn conflict resolution and harm reduction skills. Community members who join PET are paid for their time in learning with and from each other.
Additionally, PET participants work together to develop video content for our library as a part of community education for people coming back home. These videos are designed to support people in learning what they need to know to navigate the world after their release. PET participants also have the opportunity to build their skills and gain knowledge to become co-facilitators, peer supporters, and deaf interpreters in their own communities. For more information on PET and how you can support PET, please contact HEARD’s Reentry Program Director at advocacy@heardadvocates.org.
Trainings
HEARD offers presentations and workshops for deaf/disabled community members, movement organizations, attorneys, legal workers, advocates, universities, nonprofits, schools, and more on topics related to our work. These include:
Disability Justice and Incarceration 101 Workshop
(2 hours)
An introduction to the concept of disability justice, exploration of the ways policing and prisons target deaf/disabled people, and examples of deaf/disabled incarcerated people advocating for their rights, dignity, and liberation. Participants will develop a deeper understanding of the intersections between disability and systems of oppression, particularly how this plays out in policing and prisons, and ways deaf/disabled people are fighting back.
This workshop can be tailored for deaf/signing people or hearing/nonsigning people.
Prison Industrial Complex Abolition 101 for Deaf/Disabled Communities Workshop
(2 hours)
An introduction to the concept, histories, and vision of Prison Industrial Complex (PIC) abolition including an overview of how interlocking carceral systems within the PIC impact and marginalize deaf/disabled communities. Participants will learn about how communities are building power and creating safety toward a world without prisons and police.
This workshop is tailored for deaf/disabled people who communicate using sign and/or tactile languages or other marginalized forms of communication.
Audism and Ableism in Our Movements Workshop
(2 hours)
An introduction to the ways that audism and ableism function in social justice movements that sideline and exile deaf/disabled people and inhibit solidarity and organizing.
This workshop is appropriate for deaf/disabled communities and movement organizations, and is only available if the group has completed our Disability Justice and Incarceration 101 workshop or an equivalent exploration of disability justice.
Audism and Ableism in Our Movements Strategy Session
(1-2 hours)
In these sessions, HEARD’s team supports other movement organizations to work through specific issues related to their work and attempts to address audism and ableism.
These are appropriate once organizations have done some work on their own and are looking for additional support, and are only open to those who have attended our Audism and Ableism in Our Movements Workshop.
Disability Justice and Incarceration for Lawyers Workshop
(2 hours)
An exploration into the common legal issues and barriers that arise when attorneys represent deaf/disabled incarcerated people. Participants will learn basic frameworks for accommodating access needs for their deaf/disabled clients and how they can advocate for the rights, dignity, and freedom of deaf/disabled people navigating the criminal legal system.
We encourage people who are interested in this workshop to take our Disability Justice and Incarceration 101 workshop first, but it is not required.
Disability Justice and Incarceration for Lawyers Strategy Session
(1-2 hours)
In these sessions, HEARD’s team supports attorneys, legal workers, and advocates in developing a strategy for specific clients or related to supporting deaf/disabled incarcerated people.
These sessions are highly collaborative and will be most beneficial to those who have attended the Disability Justice and Incarceration for Lawyers workshop first, but it is not required.
Please fill out the Presentation Request Form! We’ll get back to you soon.