Certificate in Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Planning
The Disability Inclusive DRR & Emergency Planning is an 18-credit graduate certificate program/undergraduate minor track developed to train professionals in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) and Emergency Planning (EP) principles and tools. The world’s first program to train professionals in deaf-centered disaster and emergency planning activities, program components emphasize direct community engagement to support capacity-building of communities’ own mitigation and resilience planning, resource development, advocacy, and other relevant skill-sets. Taught by an interdisciplinary faculty from Gallaudet University’s IDMA, Information Technology, Interpreting and Translation, Public Administration, Public Health, and Social Work programs, the program trains professionals to work in the growing fields of disaster and emergency management, especially those who want to contribute to community participatory approaches to understanding and planning for deaf community adaptation and resilience. The certificate program/minor track also emphasizes building DRR and EP activities from local community leadership, centering local cultures and languages in all aspects of DRR and EP design, planning, monitoring and evaluation, research, and advocacy. The program curriculum foregrounds biocultural and linguistic diversity in sustaining community safety and well-being, as demonstrated through content centered on information and communication prepared in local languages, community participatory needs assessment, community-centered project design and program development, policy formulation that advances intersectional cultural and linguistic rights, and intercultural/interlingual advocacy with government and non-governmental agencies and organizations.
To enroll in the graduate certificate program, students must be admitted to Gallaudet University as graduate or professional students and maintain a GPA of 3.0.
All certificate program students will pay a fee of $1000 to cover travel, room, and board for the Summer Institute, coordinated by Education Abroad in a country where disaster planning activities are taking place.
Plan of Study
Summer I
| DEP 601 | Interdisciplinary Foundations in Deaf-Centered Disability Inclusive DRR & Emergency Planning | 3 |
Fall I
| IDP 775 | Project Design and Implementation for Social Change | 3 |
| | | |
| | Social Equity in Public Administration | 3 |
| | Or | |
| | Foundations of Environmental Health | 3 |
| | Or | |
| SWK 713 | Issues in Human Behavior and the Social Environment: Deaf and Hard of Hearing Populations | 3 |
Spring I
| IDP 774 | Program Development and Evaluation for Social Change | 3 |
| | | |
| DAS 532 | Fundamentals of Geographic Information Systems | 3 |
| | Or | |
| | Behavioral Health Interventions | |
| | Or | |
| | Trauma and Resiliency with Deaf Communities | 3 |
| | Or | |
| SWK 715 | Disability Policy: Implications for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Populations | 3 |
Summer II
| DEP 602 | Summer Institute: Deaf-Centered Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction & Emergency Planning Fieldwork | 3 |
Program Outcomes
Describe the relationships between climate change, disasters, and human adaptation and resilience with respect to international research findings and policy recommendations.
Identify the needs of deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-disabled people and communities in disaster planning and relief.
Describe the theory, practice, and purpose of Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction.
Demonstrate knowledge of government systems and international treaties and mechanisms governing Disability Inclusive Disaster Risk Reduction and Emergency Planning (e.g. IASC, UN Security Council Resolution on PWD in situations of conflict).
Conduct community participatory disaster risk assessment and mitigation planning with deaf, deafblind, hard of hearing people and people with disabilities, their families, and communities.
Advocate for development of information and communication materials, mitigation planning and response protocols, disability inclusive policy guidance, and hiring of deaf DRR trainers and specialists with organizations and government entities.