| Where I live |
Fremont since 1998, moved from
Maryland to be closer to family |
| Family Info |
Married to Raul in 1987.. Deaf
daughter, Marissa 14 y/o a freshman at CSDF, hearing son, Brian
who happens to have high functioning autism and is 11 y/o. We
also are a family of one 10 y/o dog, Prince, one 2 y/o cat,
Princess, and another kitten 6mos old, Jester. |
| Where my deaf child attends school |
Calif. School for Deaf, Fremont |
| How I felt when it sunk in that my
child doesn’t hear |
I think I realized she did not here
at a 4th of July parade when the fire trucks went by
with sirens on and it did not phase her at all. I guess like any
parent I was a little shocked and sad. |
| What having a deaf child has
brought to my life |
I think having a deaf child has
opened up avenues to learn a new language, make new friends. It
has shown me how valuable it is to have my own extended family
of grandparents and siblings, so very supportive of us . |
| My advice to other parents |
I think is to listen and talk to
the other parents who have been there. There is so much you can
learn from them. Also, encourage your extended family to
communicate with your child directly. It is very important for
your child to feel included in the family. |
| My deaf child’s biggest milestone(s) |
Marissa has had many milestones
from 1st sign to flying last summer to NLLC alone. I
am proud of her for always being her self and not trying to
always bend to her peers. I am also proud of her independence
and creative thinking. |
| Year I joined IMPACT |
Not sure prob around 2000 |
| Someone I remember from my first
conference |
Sandy Harvey |
| One thing I remember from my first
conference |
One of the first conferences, we
attended was in Sacramento. I remember it was a western theme
and the kids made stick ponies and rode up onto the stage with
them. It was so cute. My son still has his in his room. |
| Why I joined the board |
I wanted to be involved in helping
other parents of deaf children. My father was on the board for
ASDC, but I felt that I would like to focus more regionally than
on a national level. |
| My role models, mentors, heroes and
inspirers in this journey |
My role models are the other board
members who have been supporting this organization for many
years, esp. George, John, Nancy E and Nancy S. I think my own
parents inspired me to take this journey. |
| Outside of parenting a deaf child,
I also… (hobbies) |
I love to read, garden, play Wii
with my son, shop with my daughter, and I just found out that
the puzzles on the DS game system are lots of fun too. |
| And a little about my education,
work or career… |
I graduated from Sac State with
B.S. in biology/chemistry and then entered internship to become
certified nuclear medicine technologist. I have worked as a
nuclear med tech for 17 years and still enjoy it. I have been at
Kaiser now for about 8 years and just recently transferred to
Fremont. |
| And my final words… |
Become active in both state and
national organizations. There you will meet many wonderful
people and your family will get to see many new exiting things
together. |