Meet ASL instructor, employment specialist Franklin Smith

Franklin Smith was born in a small rural town called Webster Springs in West Virginia. When he was 2-years-old his parents discovered that he was deaf. As a result, he grew up attending public schools where he was the first and only deaf student. He received extensive speech therapy which helped him develop excellent lip-reading and voicing skills. After graduating high school he attended Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY where he obtained a Master of Science in Human Resources Development. After he graduated from RIT, he moved to Florida and worked as a deaf child mentor and family counselor for Deaf Family Literacy Academy in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. Later, he had an opportunity to work as human resources coordinator for MasTec Technologies Inc in Miami, FL. In 2011 he moved to Tampa, Fla. to work as ASL instructor and employment specialist for the Deaf Service Bureau. His love for helping people and the ability to communicate and understand people's needs in a variety of situations makes Franklin an invaluable asset to DSB.