Migdalia Rogers' family originally came from Puerto Rico; her parents decided to move to Boston, Massachusetts. She was born in Boston, and at age 4, Migdalia lost her hearing. Her mom sent her to an oral elementary school so Migdalia could learn how to speak and read English as Spanish was her first language at home. She had an amazing elementary school teacher, Mrs. Abraham, who encouraged her to excel in English and math. At age 7, Migdalia had a lot of challenges in learning English as it was her first language, but with the help of Mrs. Abraham, she mastered the language. She gave Migdalia her first book, “Little House on the Prairie,” thinking she would enjoy reading the book. Migdalia then came home, excited to read the book and was amazed that she finished it in two days. Books became her best friend during her childhood as it helped her understand the English language better.
Migdalia’s education continued when she entered junior high school as a 7th grader with no knowledge in American Sign Language. The school provided a sign language interpreter but Migdalia could not understand the interpreter due to not knowing sign language. So she was placed in a small class in order to learn sign language. From there, Migdalia was able to learn and understand sign language, and use it to communicate with other students. Migdalia never liked to miss school as she loved to learn and she felt that education was a big deal for her. Migdalia graduated from Newton North High School through mainstreaming in her classes. During her senior year, Migdalia received an Academic award and that was a very proud moment for her and her family of Hispanic family. She also received scholarships and got accepted to the Rochester Institute of Technology/National Technical Institute of the Deaf (RIT/NTID). Migdalia graduated with an Associate Degree in Business and was offered a job at the Bank of Tokyo in Boston in the Accounting department.
She met her ex-husband in Boston and they decided to move to Minnesota for his college education and Migdalia was offered a job there. She has been working in Accounting for 26 years in Minnesota. Migdalia experienced her first domestic violence experience and that changed her life. She decided to dedicate her work with women and children who have experienced the same thing she had. Migdalia became a Domestic Violence Advocate for 4 years and she thought it was time for her to do something more for her community.
Migdalia is currently working as a Deaf Mentor for Lifetrack and she loves doing this job as she feels that it is important to help parents to learn ASL in order to communicate with their deaf children. “I find this valuable as I believe every deaf child should have access to communication with their families as many felt isolated. As for me I am blessed to have a wonderful family who communicate with me even though not all of them know sign language but they always make sure I'm included.” Every time she leaves from her deaf mentor job, Migdalia always smiles and feels touched that these parents are willing to learn sign language for the sake of their children and that means so much to her.
During Migdalia’s free time, she is on the board for the Deaf Equity organization. Since her community has helped Migdalia over the years during the time of her domestic violence days so she decided to give back and help others in any way that she can. She has an amazing and kind team on the board of Deaf Equity and she has learned so much “as these board members are like my mentors”. She got accepted to do Financial coaching for Prepared and Prosper tax. She is very excited to start this volunteer opportunity as she is the first ASL Financial coach for her community. “I look forward to giving back and helping those who need it.”
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!
