The DTPS aims to empower disabled and Deaf trans people by gathering and sharing knowledge about our needs, experiences, and priorities, particularly centering Black people and people of color. The knowledge of disabled and Deaf trans people has often been overlooked in research, making it harder to use data to tell our collective story. The DTPS seeks to fill in these gaps in research. It will give disabled and Deaf trans people tools to shift the narrative about our lives, advocate and organize, transform movement spaces, and build our collective power.
We surveyed anyone who met all of the following criteria:
- Trans and/or nonbinary
- Disabled and/or Deaf
- Aged 18 or older
- Living in the United States (including states, territories, and military bases abroad)
We define “trans and/or nonbinary” in a broad and inclusive way to include anyone whose gender is different from the gender on their original birth certificate.
We also define “disabled and/or Deaf” broadly to include people who experience any form of disability, people with chronic illnesses, mental health conditions, and people who identify as Deaf, Deaf Plus, Deafblind, crip, Mad, sick, and ill, among many others.
The first section of the survey was “Tell Us About Yourself,” which asked for some basic information about participants’ experiences.
Once participants completed the “Tell Us About Yourself” section, they had the chance to take five shorter parts of the survey on the following topics:
- Discrimination and Oppression
- Isolation and Connection
- Expressing Your Gender as a Deaf or Disabled Person
- COVID-19 and Extreme Weather
- Tell Us More (share anything else about your experience)
Participants could complete any or all of these parts of the survey, in any order they want. They could pick and choose the ones you are most interested in or n take all of them. We welcomed and appreciated whatever participation felt good and right to participants.
The surveys could be taken in ASL, Spanish, or English, in spoken or written forms. Participants chose the language at the start of the survey.
We recognize participation in the survey as an extension of trust and we take this seriously. We commit to protecting participants’ privacy, safety and confidentiality in the following ways:
- Answers were collected confidentially and in a way that they will not be connected to an individual. The specifics of what was shared will be seen by the research team, Ericka, Sebastian, and Ma’ayan, along with Spanish translators and ASL interpreters, but not in a way that identifies who participants are.
- This survey site itself is protected with end-to-end encryption, meaning that the connection from participants’ devices to the website was confidential, obscuring URLs, cookies, and other sensitive data sent between their device and the website. This ensures information could not be tampered with or modified.
- Now that the survey is finished and we are making findings widely available to community and movement organizations, the essence of what participants shared is reflected as a larger part of the whole, but any identifying information was removed.
This was not only a survey of Deaf or disabled trans people–it was also a survey by and for us. We know that many researchers and organizations have failed to respect our communities when gathering data about us. Some researchers and organizations have taken our knowledge without giving back, tokenized us, or ignored our right to make our own decisions. We have made it our highest priority to do research differently, by valuing the people who share their knowledge and experiences with us, collaborating with other community members to craft the survey, and using the information we gather to empower Deaf and disabled trans people.
Most questions were developed by the DTPS team. Some of the questions were adapted from previous research on similar topics. Below is a list of the various resources we pulled from to develop the questions for this survey:
Williams, D.R., Yu, Y., Jackson, J.S., and Anderson, N.B. “Racial Differences in Physical and Mental Health: Socioeconomic Status, Stress, and Discrimination.” Journal of Health Psychology. 1997; 2(3):335-351.
Williams, D.R., González, H.M., Williams, S., Mohammed, S.A., Moomal, H, Stein, D.J. “Perceived Discrimination, Race and Health in South Africa: Findings from the South Africa Stress and Health Study.” Social Science and Medicine. 2008; 67:441-452.