Biderman, Beverly

Born with progressive genetic hearing loss, profoundly deaf by her teens. BA in sociology from York University; hired and trained as a computer programmer by the Crown Life Insurance Co. in the late 1960s. Left in 1973 to be a computer analyst for the Ontario government, but left in 1975 to raise a child. Reentered the workforce in 1980, developing computer systems for Ontario, rising through the ranks. Got a cochlear implant in 1993 and wrote an autobiographical book about it, Wired for Sound: A Journey into Hearing (1998). Became a researcher and writer in the area of adaptive technologies for the disabled.