Inspired by a vision of building a movement to enhance education and access to opportunity for the Deaf community in developing countries, Emmanuel Azodeh and Nwokoma Sampson established the Deaf Emancipation Foundation. Limited government resources and social infrastructure in these nations have left a void for the Deaf community that DEF strives to fill by providing expertise, resources and capital.

Deaf individuals require an intensive and customized system of training and education to empower them to be independent and productive members of society. All too often there is not a social safety net in developing countries that is in place in many Western countries. Consequently, many Deaf people are relegated to life on the margins of society. Fortunately, this pathology can be reversed and Deaf individuals can become contributing and functioning members of society.

The challenges for the Deaf in developing countries often originate at the family level. Deaf individuals require specialized transport, schools and learning materials. Sadly, many families cannot afford these resources and few publically funded programs exist to close this gap. Deaf schools, with a native sign language program, are vital to both the students and Deaf adults in the community who serve as teachers and mentors. In a Deaf school, Deaf adults pass along this information to the next generation of Deaf children so they will become fully functioning members of society.

Deaf schools require teachers who are not only trained in the native sign language, but also experts in specialized Deaf education pedagogy. In addition, given the rural realities of many developing nations, such schools often require students to travel great distances necessitating overnight facilities and substantially increasing operating costs. These factors make operating a Deaf school a costly endeavor that governments are ill-equipped to handle.

The DEF was founded to disrupt this status quo and turn to private philanthropy and grassroots activism to reimagine the future of Deaf education. We believe in adapting a longitudinal, scalable and sustainable approach.

In addition to building specialized Deaf schools and improving the Deaf teacher training pipeline, DEF will take in active role in mentoring students and delivering career readiness training, equipment and seed funding for business ventures that will empower them to becoming productive members of society and ambassadors who give back to the next generation of Deaf students.

We are moved to action by the tremendous deprivation we have seen our Deaf colleagues experience in developing countries. Imagine a world in which people born without the ability to hear are seen as “cursed” and relegated to a life so marginalized the prostitution, crime and drug use become the norm. We firmly hold that all individuals deserve a chance to reach their full potential. But, our vision alone is just a noble idea. With your support, we can transform this dream to a reality and empower Deaf people to lead a productive and fulfilling life.