Anton, Cheryl

Born deaf at Wellington and deaf either from maternal rubella or heredity. Attended Sumner School for the Deaf, then graduated a mainstream high school. Worked at a histiology lab in hospitals at Christchurch and Auckland. On a vacation to America, she encountered deaf teachers and realized that was what she wanted to do, despite the fact that New Zealand had never had a deaf teacher of the deaf. Worked a few years as a social worker in a deaf hostel. Married a deaf man, then in her early 30s went to college to train as a teacher and became New Zealand's first deaf teacher of the deaf, 1993 onward, working in the Kelston School for the Deaf. Later was appointed one of 4 regional coordinators responsible for services to deaf children in mainstream schools.