Today we’d like to introduce you to Tamara Suiter
Hi Tamara, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I am Deaf and have been deaf since birth. My first language is American Sign Language (ASL) and I am bilingual (fluent in both ASL and English).
I was fortunate to have access to language (ASL) at birth, since my parents are deaf as well. I am actually 3rd generation Deaf. Having access to language at birth provided me the necessary foundation to learn English. Therefore, I had educational opportunities growing up… leading me to earn my B.A. and M.A. from Gallaudet University in Washington DC. Gallaudet is the only 4-year university in the world for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
I also have two boys from my first marriage, whose father is Deaf as well. I remarried recently to a hearing person, who did not know sign language at all and he learned a language to be with me. His two daughters also learned ASL and we now have a blended family of 4 kids. Fun fact, we have 3 dogs and two of them are Deaf like me!
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
It has not been easy growing up Deaf, that’s for sure. Deaf is not easily seen. It can be an invisible disability, at least until you notice my hearing aid or me signing to someone else. I have so many stories but I’ll just pick one that just happened to me yesterday. I was at the pool with my husband and my mother. A family friend, who is hearing, was in town to visit. She has known me since I was a baby. She told my husband, who is hearing, that it was a noble thing he did to marry me, a Deaf person. That’s a ridiculously offensive statement! This family friend has known me and my mom for years. She knows how successful I am as an adult today… and yet, she thinks my husband did a noble thing marrying me. That’s just one of many stories I have.
I’ve been asked so many times if I wish I were hearing, or if I would do a medical procedure if it meant I’d be hearing… I don’t. I wouldn’t want it any other way. I am happy I’m Deaf. Having faced discrimination, under-assumptions, and oppressions has made me who I am today. I take pride in my integrity, resiliency, accountability, and open-mindedness. You can only empathize with others who are different from you, if you can put yourself in their shoes. People who have not experienced oppression or discrimination struggle to do this. I believe strongly that I am great at connecting with other people because of my empathy skills.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a Realtor and I am Deaf. Actually, I am the only deaf female Realtor in Austin. It is estimated that about 40-50K deaf people live in the Austin area. Austin is considered one of the top 5 cities for Deaf people to live in because of great job opportunities for them: Texas School for the Deaf, ASL instructors at public schools, University of Texas, federal jobs like the IRS, and tech companies such as Amazon, IBM, Apple, Google, and Tesla. As well as the city being super aware of the accessibility needs, so pursuing my real estate license made sense.
I never imagined I’d become a Realtor! I got my license just last year, after meeting a deaf client who reached out to my husband, Derek, who is also a Realtor. Derek is hearing and he learned ASL when he met me 5 years ago. It wasn’t until after COVID that the deaf community began to learn about my husband being “a realtor who could sign”. He picked up some deaf clients, which he managed on his own through the buying/selling process. However, this one deaf client last year was different. She had some language barriers, although she could sign, but she was not fluent in English. So my husband was struggling to communicate effectively with her, even with his minimal signing skills. So I tagged along to assist with the “interpretation” from signed English to ASL. And the experience improved thrice-fold! She was so happy to have the ability to fully understand what was going on with the sale of her property and move into her new home with the proceeds. That was when I realized I could really fill in the gap and provide a specific service to the Deaf community that no other hearing, non-signing Realtor can.
Risk taking is a topic that people have widely differing views on – we’d love to hear your thoughts.
I am generally not a huge risk-taker, but I’ve had to take some huge risks and the payoff was worth it.
I quit a great paying job without having another job lined up. It was at a company that provided the technology platform for automatic captions, which was to benefit the Deaf community. However, none of the founders or employees were deaf. They hired me because they wanted to market to the Deaf community and needed someone that obviously was Deaf and understood the audience. Within weeks on the job, it was clear they only hired me as a token so they could SAY they have Deaf employees. But the worst part is that when I asked for an interpreter in our team meeting, shockingly, they refused!
Also, marrying a hearing person is a huge risk! If I had a dollar for every time a hearing person told me they wanted to learn ASL after meeting me,… I’d not have to work today! Generally, hearing people love the idea of signing and think it’s beautiful but only a few of them actually follow through and learn the language! It takes a couple of years to really become good at signing, and even more years to become fluent. So my husband, who is hearing, said he would learn and I believed him. He kept his word!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.compass.com/agents/tamara-suiter/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tamaraso/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ATXhomeexperts
- Youtube: https://m.youtube.com/@atxhomeexperts
Image Credits
Tate Tullier Photography
