This InfoGuide compiles selected diverse contemporary and historical leaders in the Deaf community in various fields. The individuals have different family, identity, education, racial, ethnic, communication, and language backgrounds. It is a multicultural diverse community consisting of Deaf, Hard-of-Hearing, DeafBlind, Late-Deafened, and DeafDisabled individuals. These sources were drawn from published works and other relevant sources listed for your review. Explore some of the books that profile these individuals. Thank you to Colin Allen for his collaboration on this project and to Rain Bosworth, Rachel Mazique, Matt Dye, and Denise Kavin for their feedback.
If you are an RIT user, some books and videos are off-site and must be requested for delivery to the library services desk. View the video to see how to request the item. It normally arrives within one or two days for pick up. If you are faculty or staff, you can request delivery of the book or item to your office.
If you do not have these books at your library, ask your library to order them or request the books via interlibrary loan services. This service will send the books to your library for your review
Disclaimer: Apologies for any exclusion. This is an evolving document and there will be changes. If you have suggestions for other people to include, please email me at jxnwml@rit.edu.
Look for books using our library catalog.
ABC Portraits of Deaf Ancestors
ABC Portraits of Deaf Ancestors is created for middle school students, their families, schools, libraries and communities. Short bios of important Deaf people In US history, who were born before 1925, are included along with original painted portraits. This book features Deaf women and men from a variety of cultures, ethnicities, and backgrounds.
Plays of Our Own
Plays of Our Own is the first anthology of its kind containing an eclectic range of plays by Deaf and hard-of-hearing writers. These writers have made major, positive contributions to world drama or Deaf theatre arts. Their topics range from those completely unrelated to deafness to those with strong deaf-related themes such as: a dreamy, headstrong girl surviving a male-dominated world in Depression-era Ireland; a famous Spanish artist losing his hearing while creating his most controversial art; a Deaf African-American woman dealing with AIDS in her family; and a deaf peddler ridiculed and rejected by his own kind for selling ABC fingerspelling cards. The plays are varied in style - a Kabuki western, an ensemble-created variety show, a visual-gestural play with no spoken nor signed language, a cartoon tragicomedy, historical and domestic dramas, and a situation comedy. This volume contains the well-known Deaf Theatre classics: Tales from a Clubroom, Sign Me Alice, My Third Eye, and A Play of Our Own. At long last, directors, producers, deaf and hearing students, professors, and researchers will be able to pick up a book of "Deaf plays" for production consideration, Deaf culture or multicultural analysis, or the simple pleasure of reading.
Silence of the Spheres
De'VIA Ancestors
De'VIA Ancestors is a colorful book spotlighting the lives and works of three Deaf artists,Betty G. Miller, Chuck Baird and Guy Wonder. These amazing artists helped start the DeafView/Image Art (De'VIA) movement to recognize and celebrate art about Deaf people'sexperiences. Each short, linked biography is illustrated by a contemporary Deaf artistinspired by original pieces of the De'VIA ancestor being featured.De'VIA Ancestors was created for Deaf and Hearing children as well as for their families,schools, libraries, and communities. The Deaf authors designed each life story to standalone or be read together in one sitting. Young children may wish to have the storiesread/signed to them until they are ready to read independently. Repetition of lines andideas across the stories create a sense of rhythm, emphasis and connection. The end of eachstory features an English poem as a tribute to these ancestors. De'VIA Ancestors invites youto begin your discovery of lives and works of Betty G. Miller, Chuck Baird and Guy Wonder.
Deaf American Poetry by 
Deaf Persons in the Arts and SciencesUse of RIT resources is reserved for current RIT students, faculty
and staff for academic and teaching purposes only.
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