Speaker Slate
Opening Plenary
Thursday, October 15, 8:15 am - 10:00 am
Sue Thomas is profoundly deaf. But nothing can keep this indomitable woman from living her life to the fullest. At the age of 18 months Sue Thomas suffered an instant and total loss of sound. Her devastated parents were told that little Sue would never amount to anything and they should put her in an institution. Her parents made a lifetime vow to do whatever it would take to enable their only daughter to become successful in the 'hearing world'. It took years with speech-therapists to develop her voice. While learning to communicate, Sue Thomas became an expert lip-reader.
As the only deaf child in her public school district, Sue Thomas was misunderstood by her teachers. Although she sat in the front row so she could see the lips of her teachers, much of what happened in the classroom was lost to her. Kids tormented her in the hallways and on the playground. As her world began to spiral downward, Sue Thomas spent more and more time at the skating rink. With the help of determined coach, 7 year old Sue Thomas became the youngest Ohio State Champion free-style skater in skating history.
In spite of the difficulties in the classroom, Sue Thomas applied herself in college and finally graduated from Springfield College in Massachusetts with a degree in Political Science and International Affairs. After months of job searching, Sue Thomas heard that the FBI was looking for deaf people. Her wildest hopes finally came true when she was hired to work in undercover surveillance reading lips for the FBI agents in Washington DC.
In 2002 the TV series, SUE THOMAS: FBEYE was released. Inspired by Sue Thomas' unique job for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the weekly drama helps to bring more awareness to the lives and abilities of those with physical challenges. With more than 2.5 million viewers in the United States, the popular series is now being watched in 60 nations around the world.
But Sue Thomas compelling story is not finished. In 2001 on her way to a speaking engagement in Dallas, she felt a numbness creeping up from her fingers to the top of her head. Sue Thomas managed to deliver her speech to 10,000 people before going to the emergency room. It was her first experience with Multiple Sclerosis, but not her last. Living with MS has become one of Sue's greatest challenges. "Fighting it is a waste of precious energy." she says. "It is only by embracing my MS that I learn life's greatest lessons."
None of these challenges can quench Sue Thomas' dynamic spirit as she continues to break the Sound Barrier with audiences worldwide. Her humor is contagious and her stories are compelling.
When not on the road speaking, Sue Thomas lives in Vermont with her Hearing/Special Skill dog, 'Katie'. Knowing first-hand the life-changing impact of these incredible canines, she is in the planning stages of building a Dog Training Center called "The Levi Foundation."
Luncheon Speaker
Thursday, October 15, 12:45 pm - 1:30 pm **
Christie Jenkins is an Idea Entrepreneur, who, upon seeing deaf actor Anthony Natale in the film "Mr. Holland's Opus", was led into the world of Sign Language. She hired him and then invested her entire inheritance to create "How to Talk to a Person Who Can't Hear" - the first video ever made for the general hearing public to learn to Sign. The show proved so accessible and popular, it led her to a decade of talk shows and speaking on Signing, which she considers the most fascinating language in the world. Her other credits include a New York Times best-selling photography book, television & film scripts, performing a theatrical show on JFK, and creating the concept for "Dancing with the Stars". www.ChristieJenkins.com
Luncheon Speaker
Saturday, October 17, 12:45 pm - 1:30 pm **
Dr. Brenda Jo Brueggemann is a Professor of English and Disability Studies at Ohio State University where she also has affiliate appointments as an Associate Faculty in the Departments of Women's Studies and Comparative Studies. She is the Coordinator of Interdisciplinary Program in Disability Studies and a Faculty Leader for the American Sign Language Program.
She is the author of Lend Me Your Ear: Rhetorical Constructions of Deafness (1999) and Deaf Subjects: Between Identities and Places (2009) and of personal essays and articles on the subjects of: teaching, qualitative research, literacy, rhetoric, deaf studies, and disability studies. She is Co-editor and contributor to the following books: Disability Studies: Enabling the Humanities (2002); Women and Deafness: Double Visions (2006); Disability and/in Prose (2008); Disability and the Teaching of Writing: A Critical Sourcebook (2008). She is sole Editor and contributor toLiteracy and Deaf People: Cultural and Contextual Perspectives (2004). She serves as Series editor for "Deaf Lives" an ongoing collection of Autobiography and Biography from Gallaudet University Press. She is currently working on a book-length biography of Mabel Hubbard Bell (A.G. Bell's deaf wife) and a thematic study of literacy and technology narratives by deaf and hard of hearing people in the 21st century (as part of the larger national Digital Archives of Literacy Narratives [DALN] project). She is a past recipient of OSU's Kathryn Schoen Award (2000) for Women in Academic Leadership and the OSU Distinguished Diversity Enhancement Award (2001). Grants/fellowships received: DAAD (German Academic Exchange) 2004 Summer Institute, Einstein Forum, Univ. Postsdam (Germany) for "Disability Studies, the Nazi T-4 Program, and the Legacy of Eugenics"; Battelle Endowment for Technology and Human Affairs (BETHA) grant for the American Sign Language Literature Digital Media Project (2004-05); Ohio Humanities Council grant for "Enabling the Humanities: Disability Studies and Higher Education"; OSU Seed Grant; and Coca-Cola Foundation for Research on Women grant. She is a former member, and Chair of, the Gallaudet University Board of Trustees.
**Luncheons begin at 12:00 noon. Those who purchase Lite or single day registration will be admitted for the speaker after lunch is finished.