Thomas, Sue

Born at Youngstown, OH. Deafened suddenly at age 2 from unknown causes (another source says age 18 months). Her parents tried many different operations and other medical treatments, all of which failed. Attended regular public schools as an oral person; went to Ohio State University, but graduated Springfield College in 1978. After being rejected for many jobs because of her deafness, she finally got a part-time job counseling parents of deaf children, learning sign language at the same time. In 1979, was recruited for a job at the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Washington as part of a program to hire more deaf people. Boredom with the menial tasks led to her almost quitting, but then she was asked to lipread persons in a surveillance videotape whose sound track had failed. Her success with that led to a new role as lipreader for the FBI's surveillance program. Later she also became a tour guide for the FBI Building. She quit the FBI in 1983 to attend a religious seminary; finishing there, she became the founder and president of Operation SOUND, a missionary program to the deaf in California. Her FBI surveillance experience inspired a TV series, Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye, with Deanne Bray as Thomas (2002-2005). Religious autobiography is Silent Night (1990). In 2000, she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis and was gradually going blind.