ABSTRACT

Accessible services are not always available for survivors of sexual assault and intimate partner violence who are d/Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH). Constraints on communication for staff at issue-based nonprofits often negatively impacts their work to achieve the organization’s mission. Drawing on data gathered from 12-months of ethnographic research at a regional, issue-based, anti-violence nonprofit in the southwestern U.S., this ethnography investigates tensional knots that restrict staff from supporting D/HH clients. Mandated accommodations disrupt ableist practices and construct knotted organizational tensions between: (a) generalized vs. specialized support for clients, and (b) routine vs. non-routine intervention practices. Participants describe a complex and tangled set of organizational tensions in their engagement of generalized, routine structures, while inventing new, non-routine avenues to communicate support to their D/HH clients. Ultimately, the tensional knots uncover issues nonprofits face with addressing accessibility and the interplay of tensions.

摘要

性侵犯和亲密伴侣暴力的幸存者并不总是可以获得无障碍服务，他们患有 d/聋/听力障碍 (D/HH)。以问题为基础的非营利组织工作人员的沟通受到限制，通常会对他们实现组织使命的工作产生负面影响。根据美国西南部地区性、基于问题的反暴力非营利组织 12 个月的民族志研究收集的数据，该民族志调查了限制员工支持 D/HH 客户的紧张关系。强制性住宿扰乱了能力主义者的实践，并在以下之间构建了复杂的组织张力：(a) 对客户的一般支持与专业支持，以及 (b) 常规与非常规干预实践。参与者在参与广义、常规结构，同时发明新的非常规途径来向其 D/HH 客户传达支持。最终，紧张的结揭示了非营利组织在解决可访问性和紧张的相互作用方面面临的问题。