Lapiak, Jolanta Agnieszka

Born deaf at Wroclaw, Poland; mother was Zofia Julia Turkawska Lapiak (q.v.). Attended a school for the deaf in Gdansk for 2 years until serious labor unrest around 1980 caused her family to flee to Austria as refugees; they emigrated and settled in Canada the next year. Attended and graduated the Alberta School for the Deaf, 1990, and Gallaudet University, 1994. Competition swimmer during her high school years, participating in the 1984 Canada Summer Games (8 gold medals), 1985 World Games for the Deaf (1 bronze) and 1989 World Games for the Deaf (I silver and 1 gold), and held 8 Canadian and one World swimming records for the deaf. Founder in 1995 of the Deaf World Web, a pioneering and award-winning web site of deaf-related information. DWW folded in 2000, but part of it, Sign Language Dictionary Online, was spun off as an independent site and continued as Handspeak.