Our History

In 1999 five Deaf women from the Washington, DC metropolitan area founded the Deaf Abused Women’s Network (DAWN) to work to end sexual violence in the Deaf community.

The founding five

R. Sandra McLennon
Madie Shelton-Davis
Lucille Dorsey
Laureen Lynch-Ryan
Ralena McDevitt

Utilizing a training program provided by the Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services (ADWAS) in Washington, DAWN was founded in 2000 to bring together the community to end violence against women and girls. In the Fall of 2003, DAWN received initial funding and made its direct services available to the community.

DAWN is the only organization in the Metropolitan Washington, DC area that provides direct services to Deaf, Hard of Hearing and Deaf-Blind individuals in the area of domestic violence.

The ADWAS Inspiration

ADWAS developed the Justice for Deaf Victims National Training in 1999 with funding from the Office of Crime Victims Assistance at the Department of Justice. DAWN founders attended this training, together with representatives from five cities. As a result of ADWAS’ pioneering work there are now nine organizations serving Deaf communities across the country. (see links for list and information).