Topher González Ávila, MA was born in Mexico City, Mexico. He moved to Dallas, Texas when he was a baby. His Deaf mom raised Topher and his two Deaf siblings in a multilingual family of Lengua de Señas Mexicana (LSM), American Sign Language (ASL), English and Spanish. Topher graduated from University of North Texas with Bachelor's degrees in Criminal Justice and Radio, Television & Film (RTVF) in 2015. He continued his education at Gallaudet University and graduated in 2018 with a Master's in Sign Language Education. Topher is a Certified Deaf Interpreter with the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters (BEI) since 2016. He is the first Deaf Latinx interpreter in the state of Texas to hold a BEI Court Interpretation certification. Topher teaches for Gallaudet University's Master's in Sign Language Education program. Topher works as a community interpreter and a freelance video editor. Topher is proud to be Brown, Queer and Deaf. It was and still is a journey for him to finally embrace the person he is. He works with and for his communities especially, BIPOC Deaf youth and Queer Deaf youth through local, state and national organizational advocacy efforts.
