M.J. Bienvenu

ASL teacher and advocate

M.J. Bienvenu was born into a Deaf family and grew up in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She graduated from Louisiana State School for the Deaf, and earned her B.A. in English in 1974 and M.A. in Linguistics in 1983, both from Gallaudet College, and her Ph.D. in Linguistics at Union Institute and University in 2003. She worked as KDES’s first Communication Specialist, in the Linguistics Research Lab as a research assistant, in Gallaudet’s English Department, campus bookstore, and the NAD. In 1987, she became co-director of The Bicultural Center in Riverdale, Maryland, then was an independent consultant. A legendary ASL teacher and presenter (on topics including English, the politics of oppression, and the Bilingual-Bicultural approach), she is now Chair and Assistant Professor in Gallaudet’s Department of ASL and Deaf Studies.