DAW 2013

Deaf Awareness Week 2013: Behind the Scene with #deaffriendly Models

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One by one, twelve models arrived at Meryl Schenker’s SODO studio in Seattle for deafREVIEW’s (now deaffriendly.com) Deaf Awareness Week campaign. They began to address her by a name sign created by deaffriendly.com founder Melissa “echo” Greenlee: A closed 5 handshape sweeping outward from the forehead, characterizing Schenker’s wispy tresses.

This was one of the many nuances the award-winning photojournalist learned about Deaf Culture: Only a deaf person can give a hearing person a name sign.  

Thus began the cultural adventure for Schenker, whom we commissioned to photograph twelve #deaffriendly tee-shirt models for our viral 7-day Deaf Awareness Week campaign: “It was an honor, and I loved learning how to say my name (and a few other words) in ASL.”

With 115K viral views, over 2,000 shares, and over 80 #deaffriendly shirts and 200 stickers sold, it’s safe to say that the world got a little more #deaffriendly.  READ MORE