Elena Ruiz

Elena Ruiz is a quintessential over-politicized graduatestudent in Gallaudet University’s Deaf Cultural Studies program. Born and raised in Sacramento, CA, she taught at California School for the Deaf, Fremont for two years before uprooting and making the move to D.C. in pursuit of reversing the effects of her ‘hearingized’ upbringing. Adopting the handle of ‘sordaradical,’ loosely translated as ‘A Radical DeafXicana-Latina,’ she draws upon socialism, feminism, and the academic field of Ethnic Studies in order to broaden our collective understanding of what it means to be “Deaf.” You can find her in various coffee shops in metropolitan areas sitting and thinking for long periods of time, chasing moments of written inspiration. Her other work can be found at www.sordismaradical.com and short bursts of cogent fury can be found via @sordaradical on Twitter.