From April 25–27, 2025, more than 110 members of Maine’s Deaf community gathered at the Hilton Garden Inn in Bangor for MeAD’s Biennial Conference — three days centered on the theme “Empowered Health, Vibrant Living.”

It was a weekend of real conversations about health, access, justice, and the outdoors — all in ASL, all built by and for the Deaf community.

Friday Night: Deaf Night Out

The weekend kicked off Friday evening with a Deaf Night Out at the Caddagh Irish Pub inside the hotel — a relaxed gathering that set the tone for the connections that would deepen over the next two days.

Saturday: A Full Day of Workshops and Conversation

Adding Up to Better Nutrition: The Math of Healthy Eating

The morning opened with a session led by Dara Levy, a public health professional with a Master of Public Health in Dietetics from UMass Lowell. Participants explored how to build a balanced meal, read nutrition labels, and make food choices that support heart health and blood sugar control — practical tools for everyday life.

Turning Points: Transforming Health Panel

The heart of the morning was a powerful panel featuring Deaf Mainers Ginny Pelletier, Michael Pitcher, Claude Bolduc, and Debbie Bolduc, facilitated by Dara Levy and outdoor educator John Wilcox. Each panelist shared their personal experience navigating serious health conditions — heart disease, diabetes, cardiac surgery — and what it took to adapt, advocate for themselves, and keep going. It was unfiltered, real, and exactly the kind of Deaf-led health conversation that almost never happens in mainstream healthcare settings.

Criminal Justice Academy & MSP Training Updates

After lunch, Cara Cookson (Director of Victim Services for the Maine Attorney General) and Lincoln Ryder (Assistant Director of the Maine Criminal Justice Academy) presented on how Maine’s Basic Law Enforcement Training curriculum is being transformed to better support interactions with Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Late-Deafened individuals. This session highlighted MeAD’s ongoing partnership with the Criminal Justice Academy — real structural change in how Maine law enforcement is trained to engage with our community.

Silent Trails, Open Paths: Expanding Outdoor Access

The afternoon closed with a workshop led by interpreter and outdoor educator Margaret Haberman and John Wilcox, co-founder of Deaf Youth Outdoor Leadership and Deaf Sailing Adventures. The session explored how Deaf people can access — and lead — outdoor experiences, and what it means to have guides and interpreters who actually understand both wilderness and Deaf culture.

Saturday Evening: Banquet and John Smith

The Saturday banquet was the highlight of the weekend.

John Smith — a British Deaf comedian from Newcastle, BSL user, 3rd Dan black belt in Wado-Ryu Karate, and international performer since 2005 — took the stage for an evening show that left the room in tears of laughter.

Comedy in ASL presents a real challenge. Humor is deeply cultural, and translating timing, physicality, and wordplay across sign languages is genuinely difficult. But John’s performance transcended all of that. At one point, hotel staff — hearing workers with no background in Deaf culture and no context for what they were watching — stopped in the doorway and stood there cracking up. No interpreter needed. Just a performer who was that good.

For a community that has carried so much since Lewiston, that laughter was medicine.

Sunday: General Meeting and Elections

Sunday morning brought the MeAD General Meeting — a reflection on the past two years, a bylaws discussion, and officer elections. The work of the organization belongs to its members, and Sunday was a reminder of that.

Thank You to Our Sponsors

This conference would not have happened without the generous support of:

• MJ Grant Interpreting — From the Community, For the Community
• MaineHealth
• Disability Rights Maine
• Pine Tree Society
• Northern Maine ASL Interpreting Services Center

Their sponsorship covered food, presenter fees, and scholarships for attendees.

See You in 2027

MeAD’s Biennial Conference takes place every two years. We will see you in 2027 — details to be announced.

In the meantime, stay connected at deafmaine.org or follow us on Facebook and YouTube at @DeafMaine.

Maine Association of the Deaf (MeAD) is Maine’s only Deaf-led advocacy organization. Est. 1877. Learn more at deafmaine.org.