For the Deaf Community
Oregon Area 58 presently extends its support to ASL (American Sign Language) groups across Oregon and within District 16. Alcoholics Anonymous is dedicated to eliminating obstacles to recovery, striving to ensure that everyone is embraced at our meetings and can easily access literature pertaining to the recovery program.
ASL Interpretation
Oregon Area 58 takes a comprehensive approach by providing ASL interpretation for all our Assemblies. This ensures that anyone desiring to partake in service activities can do so without hindrance.
Email translation-asl@aa-oregon.org at least 21 days prior to the Area Assembly to request ASL interpretation.
Area 58 Assembly Agenda: We schedule ASL interpreters for meetings our Deaf AA members want to attend.
Click on the View all Forms & Documents for a list of meetings Deaf members have requested attending at the assembly.
Resources
PDAC/Area 58 ASL Meetings
Portland Area ASL Meetings
Other ASL Meetings
Big Book in ASL
Deaf Alcoholics’ Personal Stories
The links below will take you to stories by and about Deaf alcoholics in past issues of the A.A. Grapevine magazine.
- We Can Do It – Aug 2022 – A deaf member’s story about how to make AA meetings more accessible to all.
- A Warm Welcome – Oct 2019 – “I am a Deaf alcoholic with over 15 years of sobriety. I decided to write this to help others better understand me and others with disabilities.”
- From My Hands to My Soul – Oct 2019 -“As a sign language interpreter, I was assigned to accompany a Deaf man who was required to attend 90 AA meetings in 90 days…”
- Silence Falls – Mar 2015 – “Right around the time I got sober, when I was 38, I lost hearing in my left ear… Then, I began gradually losing the hearing in my right ear, too…”
- We Belong – May 2014 – In Michigan, a member helps a Deaf newcomer join a group and finds the true meaning of sharing in the process.
- Signing for Sobriety – Feb 2014 – “I am a member of AA and I am also Deaf. This is my story. I first came into AA when I was 19.”
- Quiet Love – Oct 2012 – “I was forced into early retirement due to becoming too Deaf to understand the spoken word; too Deaf to respond to instructions; too Deaf to mingle with fellow humans. I turned to alcohol as a way to bide my time in a hearing society.”
- Meeting of the Minds – Oct 2004 -“Alcoholism seems to be an equal opportunity disease among the Deaf as well as the Hearing community, so we have started a Deaf AA group in Washington, D.C.”