"You can't get to the stars if you don't reach for them"

Christina Curry is a Black/Puerto Rican woman with a diverse multicultural background. Christina was born and raised in the South Bronx and Long Island. She grew up speaking Spanish at home with her Godfather's family and feels more comfortable listening to Spanish than English. Christina is late deafened, meaning she became deaf after acquiring speech. In 1994, Christina developed an ear infection caused by a Q-tip. It was during an appointment with an audiologist that Christina discovered she had Meniers disease, which slowly deteriorates a person's hearing. It causes fluctuation in hearing and can be affected by stress, caffeine, and sodium intake. Tintinitus (ringing in the ears) and vertigo are other frequent symptoms of Meniers disease. Christina's hearing loss is biaurinal meaning it affects both ears. The disease caused damage to the sensory neural system causing her hearing loss to be irreversible.

Early fascination with sign language

When Christina was only 4 years old, she became fascinated with American Sign Language by watching a woman sign on Sesame Street. As she became older, her interest in ASL did not fade. While in high school, Christina joined a sign language group. It was then that she realized that she did not want to work with a mainstream deaf population. Her interest was in deaf individuals who grew up in a home where English was not the spoken language. When Christina went to graduate school, majoring in Deafness Rehabilitation, she was told that particular population of deaf individuals did not exist.

Learning about diversity

Christina had the opportunity to do her internship at the Lexington Center for the Deaf in New York. It was there that that she became exposed to a very diverse group of deaf individuals. She leaned deafness alone did not always unify the community; and that the deaf community is just as diverse as the Latino and Black communities. Christina worked as a case manager at the Lexington Center for the Deaf for 4 years and then went on to work at Barrier Free Living Inc.'s Domestic Violence Program. She worked specifically with deaf domestic violence victims and survivors and was the only deaf therapist/advocate working with this population in New York State.

Climbing the ladder

In 2000, Christina joined Harlem Independent Living Center as Program Director for the Pride 2000 program, which assists individuals in transitioning from public assistance to social security benefits. One year later, Christina was promoted to her present position of Executive Director.

Christina's philosophy

Christina's advice: "Acknowledge each culture's values, traditions and stigmas of disabilities. Show other people by example. You don't have to stay home and depend on the government for money. As a deaf person, I am not impaired. There's nothing wrong with me except I can't hear. I can still make a difference. Don't let others judge your life and dictate your needs. You are the best judge of your disability. You can't get to the stars if you do not reach for them. Just find the best way that works for you.