I was born in Washington, DC, the second deaf child of deaf parents who were both on the faculty at Gallaudet University. I attended pre-school and the first two grades at Kendall School for the Deaf on the Gallaudet campus. In third grade, I transferred to a public school and remained in the public school system until I graduated from high school. The experience of leaving a small and intimate school for deaf children for a large and unfamiliar public school was a long adjustment for me, one which I often describe as like being “educated abroad.” My interest in the analysis of language is strongly rooted in the experience of moving back and forth between different worlds. During my school days, I was often the only deaf child among hearing classmates, but at the end of the day, I returned home to where I was like my parents and my family.

 

My interest in languages and cultures led me to pursue a career in Linguistics. As an undergraduate at Georgetown University, I worked with Bill Stokoe at Gallaudet in the Linguistics Research Laboratory. Upon graduation, I worked briefly for the National Association of the Deaf before entering graduate school in Linguistics at UCSD where I studied with David Perlmutter and Ursula Bellugi at the Salk Institute. Upon completing my Ph.D in 1983, I accepted a faculty position in the Department of Communication at UCSD. I teach courses to hearing undergraduate and graduate students on topics ranging from mind and culture, language and globalization and socio-cultural theory. The Communication Department is an interdisciplinary department whose faculty share an interest in critical studies of communication, including cultural psychology and language in context. My work has moved into a number of directions since my Ph.D, including: the blending of history and contemporary life in Deaf culture, how adults and teachers plan reading instruction for young deaf children, and recently, the future of Deaf people in the age of cochlear implants and genetic engineering.

 

I am married to Tom Humphries, and we have a daughter who is hearing and bilingual in ASL and spoken English. Tom and I volunteer for a number of community organizations. My past service includes the Board of Directors of Deaf Community Services of San Diego, the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University and currently, the Board of Directors of the Deaf West Theater in Los Angeles, California.