Deborah Meranski was born deaf on October 13, 1935, in Baltimore, Maryland. She graduated from Gallaudet College in 1958 with a Bachelor’s degree in Art. During her junior year at Gallaudet, she married Alfred Sonnenstrahl and pregnant with her first child, Samuel. She first started working at Gallaudet in 1965 as a professor in Art History and taught for 30 years. Then, Sonnenstrahl received her Master’s in Art History in 1976 from the Catholic University of America. Also, she got her Museum Studies Professional Certificate in 1985 and Ph.D. in Museum Studies in 1987 from New York University.

Sonnenstrahl has two children, Samuel and Beth Sonnenstrahl. She is well known for her published works, titled “Why Art History in the Education of the Deaf” and “Deaf Artists in America: Colonial to Contemporary.” Sonnenstrahl got involved in several organizations and directed several plays, including the prize-winning one-act play for the National Association of the Deaf Convention in 1970. She won several awards, including the 1992 District of Columbia Professor of the Year and numerous awards at Gallaudet. She changed back to her maiden name and is currently living in Florida.