How did we get to our findings?

As it was my first time leading a team in a professional environment, I needed to recruit representatives from communities. I sent out a call for volunteers who self-identify as d/Deaf and/or disabled and a part of the Asian American, South Asian, and/or Pacific Islander community.

Before the first meeting, I met with each prospective volunteer to ensure fit and interest. Every Monday evening, I kicked off each Zoom meeting with an icebreaker question, a recap of what was discussed last time, and shared the agenda with decisions that needed to be made and action items for the next meeting. I oriented the team to the principles of Disability Justice and the framework of the Community-Based Participatory Research so that each person would be informed. I gave everyone a piece of homework: find a blog post, an article, a movie, a TV show, a book, or other form of media that resonated with them as a disabled AAPI individual. It was important for us to feel grounded in our chosen topic.

Preliminary literature review

We conducted a preliminary literature review across library databases and journal archives. We discovered that there is little to no existing literature on the intersections of d/Deaf and/or disabled AAPI experiences, let alone in King County, WA. Most of the tangentially relevant literature focused on the mental health and physical health of disabled AAPI individuals. Strangely, this absence validated the premise of our research project.

Comprehensive survey

As we developed our project plan, we created a survey. We chose this format of a survey because we wanted to reach as many people as possible and learn as much as we could about the experiences of d/Deaf and disabled AAPI community members in King Couty, WA.

Conditional logic became key to reliable, accurate data. Because people are more likely to lie on a survey if an incentive is provided, we filtered out the bad actors by asking the questions:

1. Are you d/Deaf and/or disabled? (Yes/No) [required]

2. Are you of AANHPI descent? (Yes/No) [required]

What did we find out?

We uncovered deeply felt needs for resources related to:

1. Healthcare

2. Emotional support

3. Mental health

Participants sought these specific resources to cope with ableism and racism from their families, schools, and workplaces. They wanted inclusive intersectional spaces that acknowledged their cultures and backgrounds, so they could get the emotional and mental support they needed. They needed more:

1. Financial assistance

2. Work opportunities

3. Community

4. Accessibility

Schools, organizations, and communities must strive to dismantle ableism, actively choose anti-racism, and promote a culture of belonging so that everyone can thrive. In short, the participants wanted to improve their quality of life.

What did I learn?

I grew so much professionally from this experience! As someone who’s recently been diagnosed with ADHD, I have a challenge with commitment and executive function. This project forced me to commit to meeting every Monday evening and tracking project progress to meet our internal deadlines and complete meaningful deliverables. Furthermore, I built individual and group relationships with the team members and responded to their inquiries as they arose. I leveraged my UX research background from my Master of Science in Human Centered Design & Engineering program to carry out this project.

How did I implement these research findings?

In my role as the Disability Justice Community Organizer + Program Coordinator at a survivor-centered organization, I chose to address a resource disparity: an intersectional space for d/Deaf and disabled Asian Americans, South Asians, and Pacific Islanders to share skills, stories, and experiences. It is not feasible for me to address all areas of improvement; I wanted to focus on my existing strengths as a community organizer.

While API Chaya’s Disability Justice Pod serves d/Deaf and disabled community members through regular virtual gatherings, we needed a culturally specific space that honored AAPI identities and experiences. Thus, I made a crucial decision to uplift the Deaf AAPI community through my personal relationships with key community leaders and my professional relationships with Hearing, Speech & Deaf Center and ADWAS (Abused Deaf Women’s Advocacy Services). Starting in 2025, I incorporated intergenerational dialogues in my work plan:

1. AANHPI Heritage Month Kickoff

2. Summer Picnic

3. Mid-Autumn Moon Festival Potluck

4. Lunar New Year Celebration

I understood that many deaf, hard of hearing, and children of Deaf adults (CODAs) are part of the Deaf community. Some of them are not necessarily fluent in ASL, so I chose to hire trusted freelance ASL interpreters who self-identify as BIPOC and/or AAPI to interpret at these intergenerational dialogues. I was able to hire these thanks to API Chaya’s generous approval of using their budget to meet these access needs. Building a community is hard work, and it requires repetitive interactions, trust, and psychological safety.

In the future, I would like to create more opportunities to grow the Deaf AAPI community through:

• candid conversations about Dinner Table Syndrome and ways to address DTS in an effort to include d/Deaf and hard of hearing family members and loved ones

• facilitated trauma-informed dialogues on mental and emotional wellbeing, so that we don’t have to talk about these issues alone

• creative spaces for people to reflect on their personal or their families’ immigration journeys through open mics, poetry, zine-making, or some form of creative expression

• cultural gameplay where they can learn about their heritage

Currently, I am planning a Filipino cooking class with ADWAS.