From Berlin to the UN: GDRI’s Growing Global Impact
From the Global Disability Summit in Berlin to the United Nations Conference of State Parties, GDRI has spent the past six months deepening global partnerships and advocating for deaf inclusion at the highest levels. With the relaunch of their flagship initiative as Deaf Voices Counted and an upcoming expansion into the Dominican Republic, GDRI continues to center deaf-led, community-driven research worldwide.
First Diabetes Information Website in ASL Launches
The first diabetes information website built primarily in American Sign Language (ASL) has launched, addressing a critical gap in accessible health education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing people who face elevated diabetes risk. The site features ASL videos, GIFs, visual explainers, and a sign language glossary of diabetes terms - making prevention and self-management information available in users' primary language for the first time.
Diabetes Technology Accessibility for Deaf and Hard of Hearing People
A October 2025 study in the Journal of Diabetes Research found that no current diabetes devices - including continuous glucose monitors and insulin pumps - adequately meet the accessibility needs of Deaf and Hard of Hearing users, who also face exclusion from clinical trials and insurance denials based on hearing-related requirements. Researchers call for universal design, inclusion of DHH people in device development, ASL-based instructions, and accessible alarm alternatives to address what the study frames as a structural inequity, not merely a technical oversight.
Open Data Watch on Intersectional Data and Persons with Disabilities
A September 2025 report by Open Data Watch argues that collecting intersectional disability data - which captures the compounding barriers faced by people with multiple forms of discrimination - is essential to building truly inclusive policies. The report also stresses that meaningful progress requires communities of persons with disabilities to own their data across the entire data value chain, backed by sustained funding and technical capacity-building.
Climate Change & the Deaf Community: Insights from Dr. Lorne Farovitch
In an interview with the European Geosciences Union's GeoLog blog, deaf researcher Dr. Lorne Farovitch highlights how climate disasters compound existing inequities for deaf communities - from emergency alerts that rely solely on sound to government briefings held without interpreters or captions. His work argues that effective climate solutions must be designed with and by deaf people, not simply translated for them after the fact.
Deaf Mentors Inspire: Role Models in Science Internships
Gallaudet University's AIBIDS program - a 10-week biomedical data science internship co-run with the University of Pittsburgh - is pairing deaf and hard of hearing students with deaf mentors in AI and data science, giving interns role models who understand both the science and the cultural challenges they navigate. The program builds accessibility in from the start, with transcripts, interpreters, and hands-on projects, and its organizers are actively working to expand deaf mentorship and transition greater leadership to deaf scientists.
GDRI at the Ministry of Public Health
GDRI and its University of Utah collaborators met with Ecuador's Ministry of Public Health to explore adapting three years' worth of accessible diabetes health resources into Ecuadorian Sign Language, with the Ministry now drafting an official agreement to advance the work. The development marks another step in GDRI's commitment to sustaining lasting partnerships beyond individual research deployments.
Deaf Community Research: Ecuador – A Success!
GDRI completed its first full-length research deployment in Ecuador, surveying more than 300 deaf Ecuadorians and conducting over 100 interviews in partnership with national organizations CONADIS and FENASEC, culminating in a town hall where initial findings were presented to representatives from Ecuador's Departments of Education, Public Health, and Labor, as well as the World Health Organization. GDRI also signed an official Cooperation Agreement with CONADIS, which will incorporate the study's findings into Ecuador's National Agenda for the Equality of Disabled People.
Deaf Community Research: Dominican Republic (Summer 2025)
GDRI is entering the planning phase for its next long-term research deployment in the Dominican Republic, which stands to be the first deaf-led national survey on deaf quality of life in the country. The initiative has a fundraising goal of $25,000 USD to cover GDRI's contribution to the project.
