Emergency information must reach deaf people in sign language.
Emergency systems worldwide are built for hearing people. IDE is changing that, through preparedness, advocacy, and systemic inclusion.
People with disabling hearing loss worldwide
Homes built for deaf families
People trained in DRR
Years of impact
Invested where it matters most.
Donations are held in an emergency fund, ready to be deployed when disasters strike deaf communities. Funds support DRR training programs, research and innovation in accessible emergency technology, and strengthening the capacity of national deaf organizations to reach their own communities.
Read our financials501(c)(3) EIN 27-3191911 · Tax-deductible donations
When disaster strikes, deaf people are left behind.
Left out of every warning system
Sirens, loudspeakers, emergency radio, all built for hearing people. When disaster strikes, deaf communities receive no warning at all.
Can't call for help
The FCC counted 3,967 of about 5,327 United States 911 call centers as text capable at the end of 2024, leaving roughly one in four with no text-based way to reach 911. Across most of the developing world there is none at all, and where texting does work it is a fallback, not an equal channel.
Shelters offer no communication
Evacuation shelters operate on audio-only announcements. No sign language, no visual alerts, for days, sometimes weeks after a disaster.
The most vulnerable, the least served
The vast majority of deaf people live where accessible emergency infrastructure simply does not exist. They are the last to be reached in every crisis.
160+ homes.
Built by deaf hands.
After the 2010 Haiti earthquake, IDE didn't just deliver aid. We built a permanent deaf-accessible village and trained deaf construction crews to rebuild their own community.
Our storyPrepare. Advocate. Respond.
Prepare
Training deaf communities and national associations in disaster risk reduction, before disasters occur.
Advocate
Influencing laws, policies, and humanitarian frameworks to include deaf communities by design.
Respond
Financial aid and coordination with the World Federation of the Deaf when disasters strike.
Our Work in Action
Building homes after the 2010 earthquake, Haiti
Deaf-led construction crews
Nepal earthquake response
Job training: economic empowerment
Disaster preparedness training
Memberships & alignments
We do not only describe the problem. We file on it.
A deaf-led organization arguing the accessibility of emergency warnings in the proceedings where the rules are actually written. Every entry below opens a government or institutional record you can read without asking us for anything.
- 7 Sep 2026European Commission, feedback on the Digital Networks Act, COM(2026)311Have Your Say(opens in a new tab)
- 3 Sep 2026US FCC, reply comments on direct video calling to 911, PS Docket Nos. 21-479 and 13-75FCC record 26110075390(opens in a new tab)
- 1 Sep 2026UN Human Rights Office, submission to the thematic study on twenty years of the ConventionRead the submission
- 31 Aug 2026US FCC, comments on alerting modernization, PS Docket Nos. 15-91, 15-94 and 25-224FCC record 26110073861(opens in a new tab)
- 24 Aug 2026UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, submission on article 11Read the submission
Your donation saves deaf lives.
501(c)(3) Tax-Deductible · EIN 27-3191911 · WFD International Member · IASC Disability Reference Group Member