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Take Note: Joseph Valente Crusades for a More ASL-Friendly World

Joseph Valente, assistant professor of Early Childhood Education, Penn State.

  Joe Valente is a self-identified superhero; he’s using the proverbial pen to fight the good fight by spreading a simple message: deaf people are not disabled. Valente is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at Penn State and co-Director of Penn State’s Center for Disability Studies. Deaf since infancy, he was “mainstreamed” as a child and didn't have the opportunity to spend time with deaf peers, which is why he finds his research work with schools for the deaf so fulfilling. He chronicled his life experiences in the autobiographical novel, "d/Deaf and d/Dumb: A Portrait of a Deaf Kid as a Young Superhero.”

Patty Satalia was a senior producer/host for WPSU-TV and FM from 1987 to 2017. Prior to joining Penn State Public Broadcasting, she worked in commercial television in Pittsburgh, first as a film editor and fill-in capsule news anchor for WPGH-TV, and later, for WPTT-TV as public affairs director and co-host of the talk-show, People, Places and Things.
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