In recognition of her outstanding service to children and students in the deafblind global community, Perkins School for the Blind awarded Denise Teperine, a Brazilian teacher, the Anne Sullivan Macy Medal. Anne Sullivan was a pioneer in education of children with multiple disabilities and deafblindness. She was the teacher of Helen Keller from 1887 to 1936 and brought Helen to study at Perkins nearly every winter from 1888 until 1892.

When receiving her Medal, Teperine said the award “represents the certainty of having made the right choice for what I wanted to become: a different teacher.” Teperine dedicated her award to Maria Francisca da Silva or Chica, the deafblind woman who inspired her as a young woman.

When Ms. Teperine was a teenager in the 1980s, she began working as a guide-interpreter for Ms. Chica, a young deafblind woman. Inspired by Chica, Teperine became a teacher. 

Over decades, Ms. Teperine has continued working with students and their families and students like Chica.  Marinete Sineiro Villaça, a mother from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, offered her testimony and said: “If it wasn’t for her, what would be of [my son]? He developed so much thanks to his teacher’s dedication, love, strength, and fight.” 

With the drive to learn more about deafblindness, Teperine received support from the organization AHIMSA, which translates from Portguese as the Educational Association for Deafblindness and Multiple Disabilities which educates and provides services to deafblind children in  San Pablo, Brazil. 

In the latest chapter of her career and over the last 12 years, Teperine has been working in the Amazonian region in northern Brazil, always as a teacher to children with deafblindness and multiple disabilities. 

The Award recognized Teperine’s career as instrumental to establishing quality education for children deafblindness in Brazil. She has cooperated with other professionals nationally and internationally and continues to support mothers and former students throughout Brazil. 

The award ceremony took place at the Texas Symposium on Deafblind Education, an international event held virtually this year organized by the Texas Deafblind Project from the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, in partnership with the Deafblind International Network of the Americas, the National Family Association for Deaf-Blind and the National Center on Deaf-Blindness, the Canadian Deafblind Association National, and Perkins International of the Perkins School for the Blind. 

The Anne Sullivan Macy Medal is awarded to individuals or groups from all over the world who have demonstrated outstanding service to the deafblind community. The medal was first awarded in 1966 by Perkins in “the daily, tireless effort that goes into the teaching of a deafblind child during both school and after-school hours.” Past recipients include parents, teachers and caregivers as well as foundations and public figures who have worked in the education of students who are deafblind. 

Photo Credit: Denise Teperine