Many people do not know what abuse is. Sometimes abuse isn’t easy to recognize; some forms of it, such as emotional, psychological or sexual abuse, cannot be seen like cuts and bruises.

Domestic Abuse is also called domestic violence. Domestic violence happens when your intimate partner (husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend or partner) scares you, threatens you or forces you to do things you do not want to. This happens in the Deaf community. Forms of abuse common to Deaf individuals include:

• signing very large and wild
• signing close to your face
• making fun of your speech
• emotional, psychological, physical or economic abuse
• a combination of any of the above

Domestic violence and sexual assault occur in every community and it doesn’t matter if you are rich or poor, young or old, hearing or Deaf, or Hard of Hearing.