Born in Idaho, Sharon Kay Wood contracted meningitis and became deaf at 18 months. She attended several different residential schools for the deaf, finally graduating from Arizona School for the Deaf in 1963 and going on to Gallaudet College.

She graduated in 1968 with a bachelor’s degree in library science, minoring in drama. Ms. Wood was recognized as a talented actress at Gallaudet and did some professional acting, including work with the National Theater of the Deaf and the New York Deaf Theatre. She also taught at many schools for the deaf in Texas, South Carolina, New York (Rome), and KDES in Washington, D.C. Originally, Ms. Wood pursued certification in elementary education, but eventually entered New York University to earn a master’s degree in deaf education. She also became an adjunct professor at NYU, teaching sign language classes there and at other schools.

During this time. Ms. Wood became very interested in the culture, lives, and history of deaf women. She felt that many women’s stories were being overlooked by male deaf historians. In collaboration with Marjoriebelle Holcomb, she wrote and published Deaf Women: A Parade Through the Decades in 1989. Ms. Wood traveled the country, as well as to deaf conferences in other countries, to lecture on the “herstory” of deaf women and on issues facing the deaf women of her day.

Ms. Wood was also interested in the history of deaf Native Americans. Her second book, Step Into the Circle (with Damara Paris), published in 2002, was an anthology of stories, biographies, and artwork by and about deaf Native Americans.

Ms. Wood passed away in May 2003.