Orkid Sassouni was appointed to the Mayor’s Disability Council by Mayor Edwin Lee in 2017. She is a member of the Deaf community and has been a resident of San Francisco for twenty years. Her goal is to be a voice for the Deaf community and to raise awareness regarding the lack of communication access in the public and private sector.

Ms. Sassouni has been deaf since the age of three. She experienced communication barriers in her childhood years with no access to visual communication in her home state of New York.  These barriers were the result of assumptions from the medical and educational groups that learning sign language and being deaf are unfavorable. 

Against her parents’ wishes, she decided to attend Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal college specifically for deaf and hard of hearing students.  Her time in college was a positive experience since she was fully immersed in the Deaf Culture and American Sign Language.  She graduated with a BA degree and later received an MA degree at San Francisco State University (SFSU). 

Ms. Sassouni is an educator who taught American Sign Language (ASL) courses for more than ten years.  She is also an experienced Gallery Lecturer spoken in ASL, starting with The Metropolitan Museum of Art (The Met) “The Signs of Arts” program in New York City from 1996 to around 2010.

Ms. Sassouni is currently involved in the public sector. She specializes in “spoken” American Sign Language and works with the deaf/hard of hearing population providing direct services and resources.  Additionally, she is an ASL Gallery Guide with the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco (FAMSF) and is a member of the Access Advisory Group (AAGS) at the FAMSF. 

She is a mom to a lovely boy who attends the SFUSD and proud of it.