Content warning: This story discusses mental illness, sexual assault, and suicide.
Ellie Sherwood is an artist from the Twin Cities area who became Deaf due to a measles outbreak. Initially, her mother believed Ellie could hear, as the creaky wood floors allowed Ellie to feel her mother's footsteps. However, one day, when her mother was shouting for her to "close the door" because of the cold, Ellie did not respond. This led her family to take her to the doctor, where it was confirmed that Ellie was profoundly Deaf.
Ellie didn’t grow up using American Sign Language (ASL), as her mother, like many during that era, believed that Ellie might become dependent on it. Instead, her mother enrolled her in the John Tracy Clinic, a well-known oral program, to teach Ellie how to communicate. Reflecting on her childhood, Ellie emphasizes, “I want to stress that my mother was a good mom—she did the best that she could. She was a wonderful mother, flaws and all.” Ellie attended school on Spray Island, a small island in the middle of Lake Minnetonka. It was a unique experience; the teachers and their spouses lived on the island, and Ellie stayed there for a time as well. However, her early years were marked by an overwhelming absence—language.
“I had no language until I was seven,” Ellie recalls. “I couldn’t read, I couldn’t write, I couldn’t lip read—nothing. I had absolutely no language.” Her mother, a writer, was determined for Ellie to learn to read. “There was a big push for me to learn and that helped. Reading—it’s the biggest power there is. I remember, I couldn’t read, but I knew books were important. I saw reading as a magical power.” Through her mother’s efforts, Ellie eventually unlocked the world of language, and that discovery would later shape her identity as an artist and advocate. Books, once symbols of a world she couldn’t access, became keys to understanding and expression.
Ellie recalls that around 20 years ago, she met her teachers from Summerhill, who shared a profound realization: as a child, she had no language at all. "I had no writing, no lipreading, no speaking—nothing," she explains. The only way she could express herself was through her artwork, which became her main form of communication. Her teachers were baffled, often wondering how she managed to interpret the world around her without any access to traditional forms of language or communication. It was a unique and challenging situation, one that highlighted the significance of art in her early life.
At 13, Ellie moved to Virginia with her mother, leaving her family in Minnesota behind, with no reconnection for years. Enrolled in a mainstream hearing school, Ellie faced significant challenges. "Virginia was very backwards compared to Minnesota," she recalls. "No tutoring, no interpreting—nothing. Lipreading didn’t work, and I fell behind." One day, while Ellie had the flu, a visiting doctor noted her Deafness and advised her mother to teach her ASL. Initially, her mother resisted, but the doctor connected her with another parent of a Deaf child who signed, and this changed her mother's mind. The same evening, Ellie and her mother attended My Third Eye by the National Theater for the Deaf. Ellie loved it, and her mother, who had previously opposed ASL, laughed, cried, and finally understood. That night in 1971 marked a turning point. Her mother immediately enrolled her at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf (MSSD), a difficult but transformative experience.
Ellie had grown up with the belief that she needed to act like she was hearing, making the transition to Deaf culture and ASL challenging. It took her four years to feel fully at home in the Deaf world and embrace ASL as her primary means of communication. “It was the toughest time in my life. My mom thought being Deaf was not normal, and she didn't allow me to use facial expressions or gestures—she didn’t want any of that," Ellie recalls. "She wanted only speaking, and she thought that hearing was the only normal way. She believed hearing and Deaf people had an equal advantage, which is a myth.” Eventually, her mother realized the right choice was to put Ellie in a Deaf school.
Ellie began to learn ASL, but she struggled to see it as her own. “I didn’t recognize it as my language—actually, it wasn’t until my fourth year in high school when I finally did. But it was tough because I hadn’t been able to identify as Deaf. My mom banned that label, that identity. It was very hard. I had to adapt—to accept the culture—and that was challenging.” During her senior year of high school, Ellie found acceptance among her peers. “As soon as that happened, my ASL skills took off.” With her newfound identity, she was finally able to embrace the language and culture that had once been kept from her.
After graduating from MSSD, Ellie, driven by curiosity about the world, decided to leave Washington, DC, and head to New York City. It was there she met her ex-husband, and they married a few years later in Minneapolis. "However, little did I know that my ex-husband was leading a double life as a serial rapist," Ellie recalls. As this dark reality came to light, her life began to fall apart, and her mental health took a severe nosedive, revealing an illness she had lived with her entire life. "So again, I say meeting him was meant to happen—every hardship, everything I learned has made me a better person," Ellie reflects. After leaving him, she made two important decisions. "One, I wanted to help Deaf women who had experienced domestic violence, and two, I wanted to put him in jail to protect the community." The hardship she endured wasn't something any human being would choose—painful and frightening. Yet Ellie also recognizes that the souls on this earth, in some ways, are like scientists, seeking to understand what makes the world go round, hoping for the human race to thrive through love and wisdom.
Ellie graduated with a four-year degree from Metro State University, where she pursued an individualized program in Criminal Justice and Emergency Management. "I decided to study emergency management, focusing on emergencies, disasters, and the diversity within the Deaf and disabled community," she explains. Despite societal advice that she "couldn't make a living as an artist" and should choose a stable career, after earning her degree, Ellie naturally gravitated back to her true passion—arts and humanity. "There was no question I was meant to stay there," she reflects.
After graduating with her bachelor’s degree, Ellie was still navigating mental health challenges, with her life feeling chaotic at the time. “In the hope of finding a healing medium, I entered a spiritual mode, fully intending to live deeply and spiritually, and to share that with others," she explains. This led to 16 months of traveling the country by Amtrak, an experience she treasures. "It was the best thing I ever did, but it didn’t come without discomfort, as staying in others' homes often meant living with perspectives very different from my own. But it taught me well, and I have no regrets. I learned as I went along.”
Ellie still dreams of traveling by train, ideally around the world. "We can gain so much more from train travel compared to airplanes, where social interaction is limited, and we’re left sitting for hours, anxious to get out once the plane lands." When Ellie returned from her travels, she decided to seek opportunities to develop her art career. “The art community at that time wasn’t very welcoming,” she recalls. “Some balked when they learned they needed to hire an ASL interpreter. One even placed me in a program for people with disabilities, which conflicted with my Deaf cultural values, as I don’t see Deafness as a disability but as a culture. So, I left.”
Ellie found herself joining an art collective for individuals with mental illness, feeling ashamed at first. “I hung my head in shame when I entered. I had every intention of hiding my membership with this collective.” However, the experience became transformative. “It taught me to hold my head high with pride and to bear no shame about my mental illness through my art. From there, I saw the light and knew where I was headed—onward with my art career. I blossomed, and I thrived.” Ellie credits the Avivo art program for mental illness for helping her reach this turning point in her life and art.
However, her once stable and beloved home "soon turned into an abyss." The support program ended, opening the floodgates for dark elements to take over her apartment building. “Criminals moved in and moved freely. There were rapes, destruction of public housing property, and even sex trafficking. My world fell apart, and my fragile mind could no longer hold together.”
Ellie’s mental health deteriorated as PTSD began tearing her apart. It wasn’t until later that she discovered she had Complex PTSD (C-PTSD), compounded by her experiences and a history of neglect within a woefully dysfunctional family. "However, while exploring to better understand mental health, I soon began to believe that the culprit behind much of society's illness is simply one word—shame. Shame is what holds humanity back from moving forward. If society could start by accepting each other more and being open, who knows where humanity could take us."
“What has made me break through is the same as the lotus flower—dark, murky, dirty, cold—and like the lotus, I thrive. And I’m still thriving because my art saved my life. Now, as the founder of Deaf Cultural Arts and Wellness on University Ave West in St. Paul, I still struggle. My life still throws me off balance, but I continue to thrive, thanks to the wonderful world of art.”
“My dream before I depart one day is to pass on the gift of joy in the arts to the Deaf community. Through Deaf Cultural Arts and Wellness, I hope to enrich physical, spiritual, and mental health. I’m now riding the greatest moment I’ve dreamt of since high school—bringing the arts into my beloved Deaf community.”
When asked how she became interested in art, Ellie recalls being let outside after a thunderstorm. She ran down the stairs from the porch, crouched down on the sidewalk, and began experimenting with light, colors, shadows, and patterns. It was during moments like this that her curiosity about art started to grow. Her first portrait was of a Deaf boy in her art class. "I remember his name was Walter," she said. Ellie was only seven years old when she realized she wanted to be an artist. She remembered receiving a set of colors and asking her mom for more. She began blending them together, creating bright, vibrant hues. “I would mix them to see what new combinations I could come up with. It was a magical moment for me.”
Ellie enjoys being around others, especially in art classes. “I strive to work with artists who have mental health issues like me and support them, just as others supported me during my challenging times—like when my brother died by taking his own life. It was shocking to his community and fans, and I saw their pain." She realized in those moments that she couldn’t possibly abandon the Deaf community through her art. Ellie notes how difficult it can be to create art when one doesn’t feel connected to it, but she believes that art can be a valuable outlet for coping with mental health issues, allowing for self-expression and healing.
Ellie shares the following advice: “Do what you love to do. When you have a passion for something, recognize it—that’s your calling. The universe is giving you that passion for a reason. When you follow your passion, it will come true. It’s really worth pursuing. Many people choose not to follow their passion because of money or family, but when you don’t follow it, you fail to respond to God’s calling. Whatever it is, you’re meant to follow it.”
She also volunteers her time, saying, “Volunteering is the foundation of community strength. The power and strength of a community are shown through volunteering, and that’s what makes a community strong.”
The #CanDoAnything campaign showcases people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing at work, giving them an opportunity to share what they do at their jobs and explain how communication access works for them. This campaign shows what our community can do, which is anything!
