Tayler Mayer

In 2006, as protests swept across Gallaudet's campus, Deaf people around the world gathered in one place to follow every turn: DeafRead. Tayler Mayer co-founded the site to bring the scattered voices of Deaf bloggers together in real time. In those weeks it became something he had never set out to build: a commons for a community determined to be heard.

Over time, Tayler noticed a quiet shift. More and more people were setting aside written English and signing directly to the camera. He gave those ASL videos a home of their own within DeafRead, and the community embraced it. Before its first birthday, DeafRead was welcoming thousands of visitors, and ideas such as Deafhood were traveling far beyond any single campus or city.

That shift raised a question that stayed with him: what would it mean for ASL not merely to be welcome on a platform, but to be its native tongue? His answer was DeafVIDEO.TV, a social space built entirely around American Sign Language. On most sites, a signed video is answered in text. On DeafVIDEO.TV, the replies are signed as well, so every conversation unfolds in ASL from its first sign to its last.

DeafVIDEO.TV has been recognized by a U.S. Senator from California and by PurpleVRS's Trailblazers campaign, which honors those shaping the Deaf community. All the while, Tayler worked as a freelance web developer for organizations across the country. One of those projects led him to Gallaudet, and he never left. Today he teaches Information Technology, helping Deaf students see that technology is not only something to use, but something they can shape, as so many in this community have shaped it before them.

Away from the classroom, Tayler is a husband and the father of two. He finds contentment in landscaping and renovating, and freedom on the trail, the bicycle, the open road, and the occasional distant airport. He is a devoted football fan and a familiar face in Gallaudet's weight room. On many evenings he can be found on DeafVIDEO.TV, in unhurried conversation with signers around the world.