Deaf-owned · 1891 verified
Free, forever, for verified Deaf-owned agencies.
If your agency is verified Deaf-owned, you pay nothing — full features, unlimited interpreters, unlimited jobs, BAA included, no time limit. The policy is the proof. The verification process is public.
The standard
Deaf-owned, by our definition.
A Deaf-owned agency, for purposes of the Free Forever tier, is an agency where a Deaf, DeafBlind, or hard-of-hearing person — or a group of such persons — holds more than 50% of ownership interest and exercises operational control. We use the same baseline that state DBE/MBE and SBA programs use.
We accept any of:
- State Deaf-owned business certification (where the state offers one).
- SBA self-certification for a Deaf-owned small business.
- NAD agency-member designation (where applicable to the agency's classification).
- A sworn attestation — used where no state pathway exists. One page, plain English. Fallon co-signs the program-level standard so the attestation is verifying against a clear definition, not a vibe.
The workflow
Seven steps. No "pending forever."
- 1. Apply. Owner submits the form below: agency legal name, state of formation, owner name, contact email, documentation type.
- 2. Acknowledge. Auto-reply within 5 minutes. A real person (Fallon or board secretary) confirms receipt within 2 business days.
- 3. Board review. The verification board — Fallon plus two community advisors, rotating — reviews within 5 business days. Decision is binary (approve/deny) with a written reason either way.
- 4. Approve path. Tier flipped to Free Forever on the same day. Badge ("Deaf-owned · 1891 verified") becomes available for your public profile and as an embeddable SVG for your own site. BAA auto-attached.
- 5. Annual recertification. Light. Once a year we email: "still owned by the same person/people? Reply yes." No re-documentation unless ownership changed.
- 6. Deny path. Reasoned response. Appeal within 30 days. All denials are reviewed by the full board, not a single reviewer. A denied agency is welcome on a paid tier — the badge is the gate, not the platform.
- 7. Withdraw. If ownership changes such that you no longer qualify, the badge comes down and you transition to the appropriate paid tier with 90 days' notice. No service interruption.
Edge cases — addressed
We've thought about the hard ones.
Deaf-CODA-owned agency. The CODA is hearing. Not Deaf-owned by our standard; eligible for paid tier. Many CODA-led agencies are deeply community-aligned — we'll feature their work. The badge stays a Deaf-ownership marker.
Mixed-ownership at 51% Deaf-owned. Qualifies. The standard is >50% ownership; 51% is more than 50%.
Deaf-led nonprofit but not Deaf-owned. Nonprofits don't have "owners" in the equity sense. If the executive director and the majority of the board are Deaf, the agency qualifies. Documented via board minutes or 990 attestation. Reviewed individually.
Hearing-allied agency. Not eligible for the badge. Eligible for every paid tier. We don't do honorary allyship badges — that would dilute the meaning for agencies who actually built their businesses Deaf-owned.
Deaf person owns on paper, hearing spouse runs it operationally. The trickiest case. The standard requires operational control, not just paper ownership. Reviewed by the full board; burden is on the applicant. We err toward approval if documentation is reasonable; we deny if it looks like a workaround.
The standard exists because the community asked for one. We will get this wrong sometimes. When we do, the board reconsiders. The badge means something because we hold it to a standard.
Apply
Verification application.
The board reviews within 5 business days. Both approvals and denials come back with written reasons.