In 1968, Hispanic Heritage Month was originally observed as “Hispanic Heritage Week”, but it was later extended to a month in 1988. Hispanic Heritage Month takes place September 15 to October 15 every year as a time to recognize and celebrate the many contributions, diverse cultures, and extensive histories of the American Latino community.
National Hispanic Latino Association of the Deaf was established on July 24th, 2019 by twelve founders. We want to start and celebrate our new organization on our Hispanic Heritage Month. We are very excited to bring you all to be part of our journey. Our motto for our organization is “Mi Casa es Su Casa” (My house is your house). We welcome all of our Deaf Hispanic & Latino community.
It all started by 12 of us got together one day. We shared the same passion for our Deaf Hispanic & Latino community. We want our community to be inclusive and recognize everyone’s unique self. This is when we decided to work together and create a new organization. It took us almost a year and a half of hard work together. We are excited and proud to announce that on July 24, 2019, our Organization is official!! We look forward to have you be part of our journey!!
The mission for NHLAD is to build an alliance between Deaf Latino and the Hispanic community (Refer to 'Latino and Hispanic Terminology') through the preservation of our language, culture & customs. We recognize the importance of gaining empowerment through the promotion of leadership and education in the Hispanic and Latino community.
To collaborate and build partnerships with other local Deaf Hispanic and Latino organizations
Engage our community to build partnerships with other organizations within the developing network
Serve as a resource for Hispanic, Latino and Youth in improving their communities
Become an effective community partnership that provides support for Hispanic and Latino youth
National Hispanic Latino Association of the Deaf Logo represents two things:
Latin American countries and Caribbean islands has Red and/or Blue in their flags.
It represents their Culture, Language, Families, Food, Dance, Arts, Clothes and many other things.
Our Logo are inclusive and It brings NHLAD together.
Latino and Hispanic Terminology
According to the world’s definition, Hispanic and Latino are often used interchangeably though they actually mean two different things. Hispanic refers to people who speak Spanish and/or are descended from Spanish-speaking populations, while Latino refers to people who are from or descended from people from Latin America. NHLAD want to respect everyone that want to be identified as individual.
As part of the National Hispanic Latino Association of the Deaf, we welcome "ALL", regardless of sexual orientation, gender identity or religion. We do not tolerate any discrimination based on sexual orientation, gender identity or religion.
Use of the word “D”eaf
The capitalized “D”eaf shall be used in all-inclusive manner to represent and include all people who may identify as Deaf , Deaf Blind, Deaf Disabled, deaf, deafblind, deaf disabled, hard of hearing, late-deafened, hearing impaired people and other community subsets in recognition of our community’s human right to learn and use American Sign Language
We respect our members, donors and all stakeholders and encourage the collaborative sharing of perspective and ideas. NHLAD shall also strive to be a “safe place” enabling all to feel confident that they will be exposed to discrimination, criticism, harassment and other emotional or physical harm