Call for Participants: If you are a Deaf woman who was sexually molested as a child by your brother, you may be interested in participating in a research study being conducted by our friend, Risa Shaw. Risa is the editor of Not Child’s Play: An Anthology on Brother-Sister Incest, one of the very few books on this topic. Below is some information about the study, as well as contact information.

The women in the study need to meet the following criteria:

1. The Deaf women need to be native ASL users (grew up in a Deaf family and/or attended a residential school for the Deaf)

2. They all need to have the experience of childhood sexual abuse where they were sexually molested by their brother when they were a child;

3. They need to have talked with one or more of their family members about the sexual abuse; and

4. They need to have a support network upon which they will rely, before, during, and after their participation in this study.

What’s Involved: As participants in the study, two Deaf women will have a conversation with one another about having told one or more of their family members about their brother sexually assaulting them. They will not be asked to discuss the sexual abuse per se. This conversation will last approximately one hour and will take place in a location that is comfortable and convenient for the two women. The conversation will be videotaped, but no one else will be in the room for the conversation, only the two women will be there. The women’s identity will be kept strictly confidential. All participants will be asked to choose a pseudonym that will be in all written material. No other identifying information will be used. The location of the conversation will depend on who the study participants are and where they live. Travel and lodging costs will be paid by the researcher, although there will be no direct payment for participation.

Participants will also be asked to participate in an interview done by a Deaf study-interviewer. This will be done at a later date.

Then, at an even later date, Risa will have a conversation with each of these women (separately) about their earlier conversations. Each woman will be able to watch her videotape conversation and interview if she wishes, ask questions, provide clarification, and discuss any parts of the earlier conversations.

For More Information: Risa Shaw can be contacted at Risa.Shaw@yahoo.com. Feel free to ask her any questions, suggest names of others who might be interested, or express your interest in participating. Risa is happy to answer any questions people have about participating, and about her study in general.