Our Story
In 2009, Off-The-Grid Missions was founded by Angela Maria Nardolillo, a hard-of-hearing woman who spent years traveling solo and “off the grid”. During her travels, she witnessed that individuals with significant hearing loss were being deprived of language —and this resulted in lack of access to communication; education; and overall day-to-day information –making deaf people most susceptible to neglect, abuse, sexual assault, and even murder. Several “close-call” experiences further exposed her to the aftermath of natural disasters, which in-turn revealed a new layer to what it is like for deaf survivors. For example, without electricity, vital information becomes limited to word-of-mouth and loud-speaker, so deaf people do not receive immediate NGO support, which results in being cut-off from life-saving resources. She learned a variety of skills, to include crawling under the wings of the Gracie family to be train and certified in the art of Gracie Jiu-Jitsu in order to instruct how to defend against sexual assault. Now, a decade later, the organization has evolved into a global movement that welcomes individuals all over the world from the Deaf Community to work towards a common goal: to bring light to the source of the problem in order to disarm it with tangible and sustainable solutions.
The Why [7 minute documentary]: https://vimeo.com/358541869
Our Story [3 minute trailer]: https://vimeo.com/350629302
Website: www.offthegridmissions.org
Follow us online! @offthegridmissions
