Catherine "Kitty" Hoffpauir Fischer (born ) is an American deafblind librarian and author. She is the co-author of ''Orchid of the Bayou: A Deaf Woman Faces Blindness'' a book about her life published in 2001.

Biography

Fischer was born Catherine Hoffpauir in

Rayne, Louisiana Rayne is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, in Acadia Parish. With a population of 7,326 at the 2020 United States census, it is nicknamed the "Frog Capital of the World", as well as the "Louisiana City of Murals". Rayne is part of the Crowley ...

, with an Acadian-Cajun background. Her family was originally from France and emigrated to Nova Scotia and later to Louisiana. In doing the research for her book, Fischer found that her parents' families had "intermarried with each other for generations." She was born deaf and her parents originally attempted to cure her deafness via folk healers. She attended

Louisiana School for the Deaf The Louisiana School for the Deaf is a state school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in Louisiana, located in Baton Rouge, the state capital. It was established in 1852 as a joint school for blind students. In 1860, its first purpose-built ...

, a residential school, as a child and later attended

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first sc ...

in 1972 where she met her husband. She worked as a librarian at the

Model Secondary School for the Deaf The Model Secondary School (MSSD) is a residential four-year high school for deaf and hard-of-hearing students located on the Gallaudet University campus in Washington, D.C. History Prior to 1970, Kendall School for the Deaf served students f ...

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

from 1971 until her retirement in 1995. She became an advocate for people with Usher Syndrome, writing and presenting on instructional techniques for people with this disability. She was also an advocate for residential schools for deaf children believing they thrive in environments where they can interact with other deaf children. Fischer had

Usher Syndrome Usher syndrome, also known as Hallgren syndrome, Usher–Hallgren syndrome, retinitis pigmentosa–dysacusis syndrome or dystrophia retinae dysacusis syndrome, is a rare genetic disorder caused by a mutation in any one of at least 11 genes result ...

, but did not receive an official diagnosis until she was 27 years old. She was born unable to hear, but did not start to lose her vision until her son was born. She married Lance Fischer, a Jewish deaf archivist from Brooklyn, New York. Her diagnosis provided a conduit for reconnecting with her family of origin and her Cajun roots since Usher Syndrome is more prevalent in Cajun communities than non-Cajun ones. Her autobiography is a celebration of her four cultures: Deaf, Cajun, Blind, and Jewish, what Gallaudet Press calls "one woman's genuinely postmodern identity."

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fischer, Catherine Deaf culture in the United States Gallaudet University Deafblind people from the United States 21st-century American women writers American librarians 1940s births Living people