“Fight for the things you care about,
but do it in a way that will lead others to join you.”
A light-skinned woman with short, styled blonde hair and blue eyes is smiling at the camera. She is wearing a light beige blazer over a pink blouse. The background is an outdoor setting with large, light-colored rocks. The woman is looking up slightly, and her expression is warm and friendly.
I could write this in third person, but it always comes off so formal. The purpose of the “About Me” page is for you, the reader, to get to know me as a person, a wife, a mom, an interpreter and why I am passionate about dDeaf children in the foster care system and why I am advocating for them.
I can trace my love of the Deaf Community to my roots in Flint, Michigan. Living close to the Michigan School for the Deaf, I had many CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) friends growing up. This early introduction to the Deaf community’s culture and language helped shape my future aspirations. In my more than 20 years of serving the Deaf Community as an educator and interpreter, I have experience in academic, medical, therapeutic, entertainment and legal settings, which have led to my third, most recent role: advocate.
My husband Ryan, who is deaf, our three sons and I were a foster family for seven years. During this time, we fostered seven children and adopted our three deaf daughters. Fostering deaf children opened my eyes to the lack of training in the interpreting profession related to Child Protective Services (CPS) and working with children who have experienced trauma.
This need led to the development of three webinars: “CPS and the CPC”, “Insights on Child Protective Services for Educational Interpreters”, and “Trauma Informed Interpreting with Children”, co-presented with Michelle Cline. I have also spoken with Texas CASA (Court Appointed Special Advocate) in the hopes to educate CASA volunteers across the state of Texas about the importance of dDeaf/hoh (hard of hearing) children being placed in language-rich homes that can develop their language and social skills. dDeaf/hoh children should know their culture, meaning they must have access to dDeaf/hoh mentors and be placed in appropriate schools.
With six children, we keep a very busy schedule! Our two oldest children just started college this year but having two less children at home does not mean we are less busy. Ryan and I are always out and about with our four younger kids camping, sporting, watching movies, playing games and traveling to Michigan to see my family and cheering for the Michigan State Spartans. While I miss the four seasons of Michigan, Austin has been my home since 1999. The city has a rich environment for the Deaf community with the Texas School for the Deaf, ASL events and plenty of green spaces, great food, entertainment and many ways to get out and be active!