Jacqueline Mamorsky helps victims become survivors

A wealth of research suggests women with disabilities are more likely to be domestic violence victims, and the abuse often goes unreported. In fact, a study done at the Rochester Institute of Technology found deaf and hard-of-hearing people experience domestic violence at a rate almost double that of the hearing population.

This is the population that Jacqueline Mamorsky, MPA ’17, assisted as case manager for deaf services at Barrier Free Living, a New York-based nonprofit organization advocating for people with disabilities. Mamorsky helped deaf clients obtain government services to reclaim their lives following trauma.

“Most of my clients grew up experiencing isolation and limited language access, mostly due to their deafness,” Mamorsky says. “Then, they [suffered] domestic violence and they lost their voice once again.”

She recently started working as project coordinator at My Sisters’ Place in White Plains, N.Y., overseeing the planning, development and implementation of services to survivors in the deaf community of Westchester County.

Mamorsky has empathy for her clients because she, too, is deaf. She was the first deaf graduate of Binghamton’s MPA program. At her Commencement ceremony in 2017, Mamorsky was the graduate student speaker.

“I hope I paved the path for other deaf students,” she says. “The program taught me so much, and it gave me a chance to grow. My classmates and I learned from each other through teamwork, and encouraged each other to accept our weaknesses and channel them into our strengths.”

Mamorsky interned at U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer’s Manhattan office and at the New York State Assembly, and worked for Assemblyman Steve Englebright for six months. Those experiences, in addition to her coursework in organizational theory and nonprofit management, inform her work because cultural competency is important when serving a diverse set of people.

“Most of my clients [at Barrier Free] were immigrants, so English and American Sign Language are not their first languages,” Mamorsky says. “I had to improvise my communication style so I could understand what they need. Also, it’s difficult for any man who goes through the process. One of my clients was a man and he feels tremendous shame that his former partner, a woman, verbally and physically abused him.”