My name is Dana Baldiviez. I am Deaf and have been since birth. English is my first language and American Sign Language is my primary language. I have two beautiful Deaf children. My son is working with deaf students at California School for the Deaf in Riverside, CA and my daughter works at California School for the Deaf in Fremont as a School Counselor.
I was born deaf to a hearing family which does not sign. I have two older siblings. The doctor discovered that I was deaf when I was 18 months old. It is understandable that my parents were devastated when they first found out. I was oral until the age of 10. I learned Signing Exact English until around in the middle school when I started using Pigeon Sign English. In high school, I participated in sports with my hearing peers. While growing up, I went to a small deaf program at a public school until high school. In high school, although they had a deaf program, I was a full-time mainstream student with an interpreter. I graduated bachelor’s degree in American Sign Language and master’s in Sign Language Education at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. I love to read, knit, hike and snowshoe.