Edna P. Adler was born in 1915 and lost her hearing to meningitis at age 10. She originally attended public schools, but then transferred to the Michigan School or the Deaf and then later went on to Gallaudet and earned a degree in English, graduating in 1937. She taught in the Michigan and Missouri Schools for the Deaf, and married Gerald Adler (Gallaudet Class of ’35) while at the Michigan School.

After a few years as a homemaker, Adler went back to work establishing a continuing education program for adults in the Detroit area. She wanted to go for a master’s degree in education, but was unable to because she could not teach hearing students. Instead, she changed careers to vocational education earned a master’s degree in rehabilitation services from Wayne State University. She worked in vocational positions for the Center for Deaf Adults in Lansing, Michigan, and the Michigan Association for Better Hearing.

In 1966, Adler joined the federal Rehabilitation Services Administration and moved to Washington, DC. Before her retirement in 1989, Adler advanced to assistant chief of the deafness and communicative disorders branch, making her the first deaf woman to have a high-level federal position. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from Gallaudet in 1980 and won the Mary E. Switzer Award for her work in rehabilitation in 1987. Edna P. Adler passed away in 2000.