When It Comes To Domestic Abuse And Sexual Assault Reporting, Deaf Women Are Underserved By Police

The abuse started with a few insults. When Wendy, a deaf woman, met her college boyfriend, he was popular and attractive, so she put up with the harsh way he spoke to her. Then he gave her a black eye.

“I thought it was normal, and that that was love; that it was just a part of when you care about somebody,” Wendy, 38, who didn’t want to be identified by her real name because she has yet to go public with her story, said through a sign language interpreter. “Then the insults became a little bit physical, and then a cycle began.”