Board of directors

  Rachel McAnallen is a native cuer and proficient signer. Rachel was born with severe-profound deafness and uses a cochlear implant and a hearing aid. While growing up in the Chicago suburbs, she performed at the International Center on Deafness and the Arts and attended Alexander Graham Bell Montessori School before being mainstreamed with a cued language transliterator. 

Rachel earned her B.S. in Environmental Technology and M.S. in Environmental, Health and Safety Management from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf/Rochester Institute of Technology. Rachel is a licensed Professional Engineer in the state of Maryland and is a Lead Environmental Protection Specialist at U.S. EPA. 

Rachel is a nationally certified instructor of Cued American English. She taught children how to cue at Arlington County Public Schools’ American Sign Language-Cued American English (A.C.E.S.) camps. Rachel also taught adults Cued American English in classes sponsored by Maryland/District of Columbia’s Hands and Voices Chapter. In addition to being a regular presenter at the national EHDI conference, she led a six-hour Cued American English workshop at the 2021 Early Hearing Detection and Intervention (EHDI) national conference.

Rachel has served on the NCSA Board since 2017, including her first term as a Vice President. At the NCSA, she is a liaison to the U.S. Congressional coalition, the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Alliance. Rachel lives in Burke, VA, is a parent of four CODAs, and uses Cued American English to communicate with her family.