Rachel Zemach

Rachel became Deaf at age ten, in an accident. As a teenager, she was thrilled to discover the charged, idiosyncratic Deaf world and the lavishly expressive and comprehensive, 3-D language of ASL (American Sign Language.) Later, while raising two children and running a mosaic tile business, she got a Deaf education teaching credential, and began teaching a Deaf class in a public school "mainstream program" near her home. After ten years of teaching in both this hearing school and a renowned all-Deaf school, Rachel decided to write a memoir of this experience, in order to educate others, improve the lot of Deaf children and try to start a national dialogue about mainstream Deaf education. In The Butterfly Cage, readers will meet individual students, watch raucous and often surprising class discussions, and see Rachel’s personal journey as her identity undergoes a dramatic shift. Even those with no previous knowledge of this topic will come away with an intimate understanding of the issues most pertinent to Deaf people, of all ages. Zemach lives with her husband, Ramon, whose signing is not great, which may be why he calls her his hamburger instead of his wife.