I am Ayishetu Mamudu, but everyone calls me Ayisha. I was born and raised in Accra, Ghana in West Africa – the gateway to Africa.

I moved to the United States in 2011. The best decision of my life ever but before moving to the US, I worked as a teacher at the State School for the Deaf and my time with the kids and their parents later led me to establish African Continental Deaf Women Empowerment (ACDWE) in 2008, and as its Director, I worked with Deaf girls and their families where I advocated for the girls to attend school. I succeeded in advocating with the Ministry of Women Affairs on behalf of Deaf women in Ghana in a myriad of domestic violence related cases. This also played in motivating me to look for further education on issues of domestic violence for Deaf women, as a result I attended my first violence against Deaf women in Vermont organized by ADWAS in 2008.

Fast forward, while studying at Gallaudet University, I also worked with Global Deaf Muslim in Virginia, where I worked with mosques and Islamic conference organizers to provide sign language interpreters which used to be lacking in Deaf Muslim communities. My work in advocacy for justice for Deaf women and children in Ghana, for access to religious services inspired me to continue to look for an organization that advocates for that kind of work that I love doing and I found this fantastic organization that supports and allows that work I love to continue.

So I am proud to join here as the Deaf Systems Advocate and I am very excited and looking forward to a productive and enjoyable time with you all my Greater Rochester Deaf, Head-of-Hearing and DeafBlind community.

I am a recent graduate from Gallaudet University with a Bachelors in Government.

I love cooking, reading and watching Netflix, especially Bollywood movies.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions relating to my work as your Deaf Systems Advocate and if you have any concerns. I am here to be your voice (help you)!