International Organizations
There are a number of international organizations focusing on hearing loss and the ramifications it has for everyday life. Some are limited to one country, while others encompass several.
"World Recreation Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing," which was abbreviated "WRAD." The WRAD organization was incorporated in 1985 under all four of the IRS categories for IRC Section 501(c)(3) nonprofit public benefit organizations. WRAD has always had four sections:Educational, Charitable, Scientific Research, and Literary Media and Publications. The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) was establish in 1951 during the first World Congress in Rome, Italy. WFD is an international, non-governmental, central organization comprising national associations of Deaf people. With a membership in 123 countries, WFD represents approximately 70 million Deaf people worldwide. Deaf International Basketball Federation (DIBF) is a world governing body for international deaf basketball in cooperation with the Deaflympics and its confederations. DIBF shall be an independent association composed of the National Organizations governing deaf basketball. The International Deaf Children's Society (IDCS) is the international development wing of The National Deaf Children's Society (NDCS), a UK registered charity founded in 1944. IDCS was launched in 2002. Auditory-Verbal International, Inc ® (AVI) is a private non-profit international membership organization whose principal objective is to promote listening and speaking as a way of life for children who are deaf or hard of hearing. We are men and women, teachers and students, mechanics and farmers, bankers and programmers, priests and writers, working and retired. We come from all over the United States, many European countries, and Australia. We are diverse. Many of us are Deaf people who use American Sign Language. Others employ speech and lipreading. Some of us are hard of hearing. Some are late-deafened. We are united by a common love of flying. The National Deaf Children’s Society is the only UK charity solely dedicated to providing support, information and advice for deaf children and young people, their families and professionals working with them.
