Gallaudet students travel to North Carolina to learn from communities recovering after Hurricane Helene

When Hurricane Helene hit western North Carolina in September 2024, catastrophic flooding and landslides impacted residents across the region — including many in the Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind communities. Dozens of people shared these harrowing experiences with Gallaudet students at an event in July that was hosted by the Asheville Deaf Church and Smokey Mountain Deaf Club.

“Their stories were powerful and important to learn about the experiences of Deaf and Hard of Hearing people during and after disasters. One woman specifically discussed how she lived by herself and was unable to get any help or information for over three days,” says Claire Coffey, one of six students who traveled to North Carolina for the 2025 Summer Institute held by Gallaudet’s Disability-Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction & Emergency Planning Program (DEP).

Thanks to a partnership with the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Services for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DSDHH), the DEP group was invited to visit affected areas, meet with community organizations and emergency management agencies, and present their insights on how to improve the response to future disasters.

Understanding the state and local response

The 10-day trip was a chance for students to pool their cumulative knowledge and apply it, says DEP Director Dr. Audrey Cooper, who was excited to give them a close-up look at what happens at the local and state levels prior to, during, and following an emergency. She is especially grateful to DSDHH Emergency Preparedness Coordinator Donna Platt, G-’90, who is one of only two people in the country to have such a role focused on Deaf and Hard of Hearing communities. “When we started DEP, she reached out to me because she wanted to learn more about our unique program,” Cooper says. The aftermath of Helene provided an opportunity to build on that relationship.

Platt says that everyone who met with the students was honored to support the DEP’s mission. “Survivors were open to sharing their experiences and in responding to students’ questions,” she says. “It was helpful to see what the challenges were and what needed to be improved in order to strengthen communication access for individuals who are Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and DeafBlind.”

In addition to connecting with DSDHH staff at three Regional Centers and the DSDHH central office, DEP students had site visits with the NOAA-National Centers for Environmental Information (Asheville), Henderson County Emergency Management (Hendersonville), NC Emergency Management (Raleigh), NOAA-National Weather Service Raleigh Forecast Office (Raleigh), and the NC Inclusive Disaster Recovery Network (Durham). Dr. Kristin Todd, Superintendent of the North Carolina School for the Deaf (Morganton), coordinated a presentation on the school’s emergency preparedness, during which Broughton Hospital Deaf Unit Director, Dr. Candice Tate, PhD ’06, presented and also organized a community event for the Deaf community in Morganton to discuss their experiences with Hurricane Helene.

Creating opportunities for people to share experiences 

For DEP student Toska Broadway, the most meaningful moments were when they met with Deaf people who had experienced the hurricane. A tour of disaster sites with Rey Castillo, a Deaf volunteer photographer for the Swannanoa Fire & Rescue Department, was particularly moving. “He shared stories about what happened in different neighborhoods and to different families, which gave me a better understanding of the impact and the resilience of the community,” Broadway says. “Seeing the disaster sites firsthand made everything we’ve been learning feel more real and immediate. It was a true boots-on-the-ground experience that brought the work to life in a way that reading or talking about it never could.” 

That event hosted by the Asheville Deaf Church and Smokey Mountain Deaf Club was the first time that the community in that area had come together since the hurricane. ​​North Carolina State Representative Brian Turner attended with his wife, Hope Turpin Turner, G-’21, who is a Deaf member of the NC Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Representative Turner posted on his Facebook account, “We can do better by our neighbors and this was a good opportunity to learn from the tragedy that was and still is in many ways with us.”

Having access to so many people allowed the Gallaudet students to survey the impact of Hurricane Helene in three distinct areas. “People told me they were so incredibly impressed by the level of preparation, the gravity the students brought to meetings, and how committed they were to learning and listening to the local community and professionals,” Cooper says. “The only way we’re going to advance anything is with respect, compassion, and a lot of creativity.”

Presenting ideas for the future

The students pulled their findings into a powerful presentation that they delivered to the DSDHH Community Accessibility Specialists, Regional Center Managers, and some of the DSDHH Disaster Core Team Members. The presentation featured “empathy mapping,” a way of anonymously quoting concerns that people faced during the hurricane, such as “no ASL interpreter at meetings,” “no cell service/power/internet,” and “worried about Deaf friends.”

This method resonated with community members involved in the decision-making process, explains DEP student Rachel Qualls. “They expressed genuine interest in using it to see the big picture of how their community thinks, feels, says, and does. Watching their excitement and willingness to adopt this approach was deeply rewarding. It showed me that the knowledge I’ve gained can directly benefit others in meaningful ways,” she says.

DSDHH Director Tony Davis, G-’11, has invited the students to present again for the entire DSDHH division as well as Deaf consumers/community members this fall.

To Cooper, the positive reception is a sign that people in the field recognize the value of what Deaf and Hard of Hearing emergency professionals are doing, and the value of Gallaudet’s DEP Program in providing this vital training. “Emergency management organizations need people with training like the students are getting in the DEP. There are very few people with access to this training who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing,” she says. “They need to know there is now starting to be a pool of people they can draw on. They’re not protecting the whole community if they don’t get the right professionals on board.”

Find out more about the Disability-inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction & Emergency Planning Program (DEP), an 18-credit graduate certificate and undergraduate minor program that trains professionals to work in the growing fields of disaster and emergency management.