OCDAC 'quietly' Announces A New Deaf Domestic Violence Prevention Program

From: Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center - May 11, 2003

May 11, 2003

Greetings,

Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center has a new program to address domestic
violence program for the deaf community in the Southland.

Conceived in May 16, 2002 as a web based resource called "Victim of
Violence" education program and materialized in February 10, 2003 without
the usual fanfare due to reasons for client's safety. Client's safety is
a top priority in this new program.

Today at 1pm we rescued a 20 yr old lady with Asperger's Syndrome from
her household because her mother was getting violent toward her father.
Her message sent to my T-Mobile Sidekick was "Get me out of here.
Everyone here is crazy." Her father was gone and I escorted her to
our office where she played with Isabel, our feline mouser, until we
felt it was safe for her to return home.

Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center's Deaf Domestic Violence Prevention
program is for men and women who have or are facing violence in the
household. We have everything needed to protect people from abusers.
From educational brochures to forms assistance to a lineup of shelters
and storage facilities in Los Angeles, Orange, San Diego, and Imperial
counties designed to protect men and women from their abusers.

We are receiving assistance from the Orange County District Attorney's
office to address safety of women and the Equal Justice Fountadion of
Colorado to address safety of men.

We accept referrals from any Social Service agency. We do not discriminate
against anyone needing assistance.

Many shelters that are proclaimed for abused women in Orange County are
actually filled with women going through divorce or exploring alternative
lifestyles. This is a waste of valuable resources destined to protect
women from their abusers. We found this out when we were canvassing
shelters in Orange County for our program. I'm contemplating on blowing
the wistle on several of these shelters that are improperly using their
resources on these types of women.

Until last February, there has been no shelter for abused men and we will
open a second one in Costa Mesa within seven weeks. The folks of Equal
Justice Foundation is very excited about this!

In accomplishing the safety of abuse victims, we dont get any taxpayer
funding because we believe in independence from such funding. Therefore
given our independence, it would be a big help to our mission and vision
statements if you can send us a small donation $20 or less to help us
continue the good deeds for humankind.

Make the check or money order payable to "OCDAC" and send it to:

Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center
2960 Main Street
Suite A100
Irvine, California 92614

If you dont have anything to spare, perhaps you can forward this message
to your colleagues and friends who will benefit from knowing about this
new program our agency has to offer.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Richard Roehm
Chief Executive Officer