The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) is an organization for the promotion of the rights of deaf people in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. NAD was founded in

Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

, in 1880 as a

non-profit organization A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...

run by

Deaf people Deaf people are typically defined as those who have profound hearing impairment in both ears as a result of either acquired or congenital hearing loss. Such people may be associated with deaf culture. Deafness (little to no hearing) is distinguis ...

to advocate for deaf rights, its first president being Robert P. McGregor of Ohio. It includes associations from all 50 states and

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

, and is the US member of the

World Federation of the Deaf The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) is an international non-governmental organization that acts as a peak body for national associations of Deaf people, with a focus on Deaf people who use sign language and their family and friends. WFD aims ...

, which has over 120 national associations of Deaf people as members. It has its headquarters in Silver Spring,

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...

. All of its presidents were late-deafened until the 1970s. It is in charge of the Miss Deaf America Ambassador programs, which are held during the association's conventions. It has advocated for deaf rights in all aspects of life, from public transportation to education.

Mission statement

The mission of the National Association of the Deaf is "to preserve, protect and promote the civil, human and linguistic rights of deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States of America." While it works for Deaf people, it also works to promote knowledge about the rights, culture, and language of Deaf people to hearing people.

Issues

The NAD advocates for any issues that are associated with deaf rights. It early worked to preserve

sign language Sign languages (also known as signed languages) are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning, instead of spoken words. Sign languages are expressed through manual articulation in combination with non-manual markers. Sign l ...

, especially under

George Veditz George William Veditz (August 13, 1861 – March 12, 1937) was a former president of National Association of the Deaf of the United States and one of the first people to film American Sign Language. Life Early life Veditz was born to Ger ...

. During his time as president, Veditz and other members of the NAD used the new film technology to capture individuals signing so that their language would never be lost. Although African-Americans were not permitted to be members until later, starting in the early 20th century, the NAD advocated for

vocational training Vocational education is education that prepares people to work as a technician or to take up employment in a skilled craft or trade as a tradesperson or artisan. Vocational Education can also be seen as that type of education given to an ind ...

for the "Colored Deaf" population. Because of the lack of rights afforded to blacks in NAD, several groups were formed, included

National Black Deaf Advocates The National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA) is the leading advocacy organization for thousands of Black deaf and hard of hearing people in the United States. Black Deaf leaders were concerned that deaf and hard-of-hearing African-Americans were not a ...

. The NAD has also fought to keep deaf teachers for teaching deaf students and for the opening of deaf residential schools across the country. In 1909, President

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

signed a law allowing deaf individuals to take civil service exams only after the NAD fought to have this as a law. It was a strong advocate for having captioned films and in 1958, President

Dwight Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; ; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was an American military officer and statesman who served as the 34th president of the United States from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, ...

signed a law requiring it. The NAD strongly supported the students and faculty of

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first sc ...

in the

Deaf President Now Deaf President Now (DPN) was a student protest in March 1988 at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. The protest began on March 6, 1988 when the Board of Trustees announced its decision to appoint a hearing candidate, Elisabeth Zinser, Elizabet ...

protests of 1988. The

Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964 ...

(ADA) of 1990 was also strongly fought for by the NAD. Most recently, the NAD has advocated for professional sports stadiums to provide captioning for the referees calls and for announcers' comments. The association has worked to require insurance companies to have deaf people as clients and for landlords to have deaf tenants. Hotels are now required to provide "deaf-friendly" alarm clocks and smoke detectors because of the NAD's persistence in the matter. The NAD fights for the right of deaf individuals to be able to use

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

and to be provided an interpreter. The NAD website gives information on all the rights of deaf individuals have and how to go about gaining them.

Controversies

In 2014, NAD filed a complaint with the

United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division The U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division is the institution within the federal government responsible for enforcing federal statutes prohibiting discrimination on the basis of race, sex, disability, religion Religion is usually d ...

alleging that thousands of lectures and other course content that had been made freely available via

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

and

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...

by the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

violated the

Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 19 ...

because numerous lectures in the university's

Massive open online course A massive open online course (MOOC ) or an open online course is an online course aimed at unlimited participation and open access via the Web. In addition to traditional course materials, such as filmed lectures, readings, and problem sets, m ...

program featured automatically generated captions, which contained inaccuracies. In 2016, the Department of Justice concluded that the content would violate the ADA unless it was updated to conform to the current

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) are part of a series of web accessibility guidelines published by the Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) of the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), the main international standards organization for th ...

. In response, a university spokesperson stated that the costs of "captioning alone would exceed a million dollars" and that the university would comply with the DOJ order by removing all of the content from public access.

Milestones

* 1896: The first woman (Julia Foley) was elected to the board of the NAD. * 1960: The Junior NAD was established. * 1964: Women members of the NAD were first allowed to vote. * 1965: Black members were first accepted into the NAD. * 1972: The first Miss Deaf America Pageant (called the Miss Deaf America Talent Pageant until 1976) was held during the NAD Convention in

Miami Beach Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. It was incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on natural and man-made barrier islands between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter of which sep ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...

; the winner was Ann Billington. * 1980: Gertrude Galloway became the first female president of the NAD.

Awards

The biennial NAD conference includes awarding of various awards.

State associations

State associations are affiliated with but independent of the NAD. All 50 states and Washington, DC, have state associations, many of which provide a dual membership with the NAD. Some state associations receive their bylaws from the NAD.

References

Other sources

Gallaudet University Archives, Timeline: Gallaudet University and the Deaf Community
*Dunn, Lindsay Moeletsi. Edited by Mervin D. Garretson. "Education, Culture and Community: The Black Deaf Experience." A Deaf American Monograph 45 (1995): 37–41.

External links

*
National Council for Interpreting in Health Care (United States)

A complete list of WFD members containing over 120 national associations of deaf people
{{DEFAULTSORT:National Association Of The Deaf (United States) Deafness rights organizations Health and disability rights organizations in the United States Organizations established in 1880 Deaf culture in the United States 1880 establishments in the United States