Horace Mann School for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

• 1: Home
• 2: About Us
  • 2.1: Our Beliefs
• 3: The School
  • 3.1: Parent Infant Program
  • 3.2: Early Childhood
  • 3.3: Elementary Program
  • 3.4: Secondary Program
    • 3.4.1: English Language Arts
    • 3.4.2: Social Studies
    • 3.4.3: Mathematics
    • 3.4.4: Technical and Transitional Services
    • 3.4.5: Transitional Services
• 4: The Evaluation Unit
  • 4.1: Overview
  • 4.2: Facilitator
  • 4.3: Behavior Specialist
  • 4.4: Diagnostic Teacher
  • 4.5: Hispanic Liaison
  • 4.6: Physical Therapist
  • 4.7: Registered School Nurse
  • 4.8: School Psychologist
  • 4.9: Social Worker
  • 4.10: Speech and Language Therapist
  • 4.11: Vision Specialist
• 5: Programs
  • 5.1: Successful Deaf Leaders
  • 5.2: ScanWorks
  • 5.3: Girl Power
  • 5.4: Summer Works Program
  • 5.5: Technology Goes Home
• 6: Archives
• 7: Contribute
  • 7.1: The Golf Benefit
  • 7.2: Advisory Board
  • 7.3: Wish List

Sharon Applegate

Executive Director
D.E.A.F., Inc.
2008 Recipient

Successes

Sharon is proud that she has earned her Bachelor’s and two Master’s Degrees from Columbia University, she has a great family including a daughter she loves, she owns a home, and she has love to give to family and friends. She feels proud of the work she does at D.E.A.F., Inc. leading the agency as it expands to include elder and health care support services.

Challenges

Sharon feels that having access to communication means having access to information, and information is power. As part of her job she meets the challenge of communicating with hearing people every day. She often meets with funders, politicians and business people who may not be familiar with deafness, but she uses an interpreter, writes notes, and does whatever she can to communicate with them as she convinces them to support the work of D.E.A.F., Inc.

Advice to Horace Mann Students

“Believe in yourself, work hard, don’t give up, respect people’s differences, insist on clear and accessible communication, have good relationships with friends and family, value teamwork, be involved in sports or some other community activity, get a good job, be brave, be smart, and believe that you can do anything.”