Open Roundtable Discussion
“Let's Unite with Love Towards Accountability”
Facilitated by Tar Burt and Eliza Kragh
Saturday, November 1, 2025 • 1:00 PM - 5:00 PM
Austin Deaf Club, Austin, TX
Community Ideas & Suggestions
During the Open Roundtable Discussion at Deaf Collab: Austin 2025, community members came together to share their ideas and suggestions on how we can improve and heal our Deaf organizations. Below are the key themes and actionable items that emerged from this collaborative conversation.
Community Building & Engagement
- Townhalls in multiple locations...people need them, just like road trip
- Invite hearing people to join Deaf groups
- Get involved in the Deaf community (Deaf club, etc)
- Build more rapport like Deaf Collab and it needs to happen more often
- Build community collabs
- Unite and forgive each other
- Turn trauma into workshops
- Get involved! (Community organizations, Deaf club, etc)
- Learn to listen
- Stay with the group and we'll have strong leadership
- Need to include diverse people from all groups in roundtables
- Have roundtables at NAD and in every state
- Ask NAD to host virtual roundtables on Zoom and have it be open to the public
Leadership & Organization
- Build an army of builders
- Leaders need to be open-minded
- Leaders and the community need to take more accountability
- The Dolphin Pod is helping the Deaf community out now
- Elite aren't welcoming to other Deaf people
- Charleen Scully struggled to identify people who worked on Deaf Collab
- Membership: remind and reeducate people about its value...NAD, other organizations
- Lobbyists need things like tax write-off or return deals to help the Deaf community
- NAD is overwhelmed and can't help out with everything. States could have similar organization to lessen NAD's plate
- NAD cannot be a lobbyist (because of their 501c3 status) but they do lobbying already, like vlogs, letters, calls, etc
- Educate public on how to run an organization
- NAD needs to follow deadlines & respond in timely manner. If NAD doesn't respond, set deadline & timeline
- Cherish each other and build trust & confidence
- NAD Board needs to be much more transparent and participate in events like Deaf Collab
Training & Education
- Give more trainings to Deaf people and to the public
- More training to transform from trauma
- Better results happen when the community takes action
- Need training on grants
- Need to train hearing staff to accept Deaf people and for them to work together
- Legislators need to be trained
- Get training on how to work with legislature
- Invite hearing people to learn from us
- Learn from others such as DeafBlind and learn their way of life
- Actions over words
- Get lobbyists to pass state laws (Deaf and hearing)
- 1st priority: Legislative training
- 2nd priority: Lobbyist (example: Calif has one Deaf lobbyist & one hearing lobbyist working together)
- Revisit NAD conference budget and conference locations. Do same for statewide conferences
- Meet people at more levels, and make it more family-friendly!
- Privileged & elitist clique...not community-oriented
- 501c3 organizations & lobbyists...lots of confusion/misunderstanding about NAD (what they do and their responsibilities)
- Not enough mentorships
Communication & Advocacy
- Safe space: discourse is needed and disagreements need to be allowed to happen in a respectful way
- Email responses: people email organizations and when they don't get a response they feel neglected
- Less attitude, more respect
- Take action and let things happen. Why rely on NAD?
- Roundtable: out of 11 presenters, only one was present during roundtable
- Expectations and assumptions are the main issue
- Many couldn't make it to Deaf Collab
- People need to connect with the community better instead of going to another event by themselves
- Several DNO and other groups don't realize what we have and they need to
- The world is changing fast
- Too few volunteers and they get burned out
- NAD conference: SF is expensive for Deaf people
- State associations need to consider people's financial ability to attend their events
- Daycare need to be provided so parents can participate
- Network with Ryan Henchanaz (he works for federal government)
- A lot of confusion from the Deaf community towards NAD
- Legislation Day needs to happen annually. Set up relationships with legislators, bond with them and give them information. Communicate methods
- During Obama's era, federal govt. made funds available, but that's gone now. Policy has changed.
- Communicate and reorganize
- Collect data through surveys
- Write, call, contact local senators and share issues & concerns
- Discuss what we hope to see in NAD & state organizations. Share feedback
Accessibility & Resources
- Deaf space: we must understand what it is & where it came from (we're traumatized & humanized)
- Some disabilities can be invisible
- VR support. Have to list challenges & functional limitations beyond communication for Deaf people
- Continue with advocacy
- Make allies
- Set up 501c4 for lobbying, influencing legislators
- New people with state-level experience & different states need to be put in national/federal level roles
- Build support
- Work with people who aren't as privileged or educated. Get out of comfort zone and elevate others
- Set up a succession plan! Prepare the next generation of leaders and community members
- Create funding for interpreting services
- Build clout
Systemic Change & Policy
- Set relationships with people who establish rules
- Fundraise through workshops
- Use state grants for workshops
- Build rapport in groups and then mobilize as a whole/collective
- Presenters need to stay after and engage with the group
- Manage assumptions and expectations, and let the community hold space for shared accountability and give grace (we're all human)
- Let professionals connect, but have them also reach out to locals back home. Don't leave E/O behind
- Connect with disability organizations
Moving Forward Together
These ideas represent the collective wisdom and passion of our community. Let's continue this conversation and work together to create positive change in our Deaf organizations and communities.