Sue Thomas

This article is about the FBI agent. For the British writer, see Sue Thomas (author) .

Sue Thomas (born May 24, 1950 in Boardman, Ohio , USA ) is the first deaf woman to work as an undercover agent for the FBI and to observe suspects by reading her lips .

Life and education

Sue Thomas was born a hearing person but lost her hearing at the age of 18 months. A sufficient explanation for deafness is not yet known. Thomas became an excellent lip reader and learned American sign language . Speech therapists helped her develop her voice and she learned to speak. Sue was the only deaf child in her school district and was misunderstood by her teachers. Although she sat in the front row so that she could read her teachers' lips, she missed much of what was going on in the classroom. The children harassed her in the hallways and in the playgrounds. At the age of seven, with the help of the coach, she became the youngest national champion in the history of this sport as a freestyle figure skater in Ohio.

But despite the difficulties in school, Thomas graduated from Springfield College in Massachusetts and graduated in Political Science and International Relations .

Career with the FBI

After months of looking for work, Sue found out that the FBI was looking for deaf people. After initially working in a fingerprint analysis department, she quickly felt under-challenged. She convinced her superiors of her excellent lip-reading abilities and finally worked alongside Special Agent Jack Hogan, who helped discover her potential uses, in undercover investigations. Their skills were particularly in demand when modern interception technology could not do anything when observing suspects. Thomas worked on white-collar crime, drug trafficking, and corrupt government officials cases, but FBI rules prohibited any further publication. Thomas worked for the FBI for four years, from 1979 to 1983.

watch TV

In 1990 Sue Thomas wrote her autobiography entitled Silent Night , which was the basis for the later television series.

In 2002 the television series Sue Thomas: FBI (original title: Sue Thomas FBEye ) started on the Pax TV network. The weekly series, written by Dave Alan Johnson and Gary R. Johnson and inspired by Thomas' unique work for the FBI, also raised awareness of the life and opportunities of people with physical disabilities.

The actress Deanne Bray , herself deaf, played the main role freely based on the original and the experiences of the real Sue Thomas. At its best, the series reached more than 2.5 million viewers in the United States and was shown in 62 countries. Sue Thomas' dog Levi, her "animal replacement ear", was also portrayed in the series by a Golden Retriever named Jesse .

The Official Sue Thomas: FBEye DVD-s have been available since October 2009 .

multiple sclerosis

In 2001, during a public appearance in Dallas , Thomas noticed a creeping numbness from her fingers to her head. She completed her speech in front of an audience of 10,000 before going to the emergency room. Diagnosing and living with multiple sclerosis became Sue Thomas' greatest challenge. In an online posting on the National Multiple Sclerosis Society website, she wrote, "Fighting is a waste of valuable strength" and "Only if I accept MS will I learn the greatest lesson in life." From 2002 to 2007 was Sue Thomas MS Ambassador to the American National Multiple Sclerosis Society , and has been an MS Warrior ever since .

Levi Foundation

Thomas settled in Vermont with her specially trained dog Katie , who died in May 2012 at the age of nine . Based on her experience, she planned to build a canine training center called The Levi Foundation .

Web links

• Sue Thomas FBEye in the Internet Movie Database (English)
• Sue Thomas Homepage (English)
• Sue Thomas Productions (English)
• Sue Thomas FBI on Fernsehserien.de

Individual evidence

1. ↑ [Andree Niswander Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. "The real 'Sue Thomas: FBEye' to speak in Stow". The-News-Leader.com. Dix Communications. Retrieved April 24, 2009] 
2. ↑ [Thomas, Sue. "Sue Bio" Archived copy ( memento of the original from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on July 16, 2012.] 
3. ↑ [Thomas, Sue. "Sue Bio" Archived copy ( Memento of the original from September 12, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on July 16, 2012.] 
4. ↑ [Andree Niswander Archived copy ( memento of the original from July 16, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. "The real 'Sue Thomas: FBEye' to speak in Stow". The-News-Leader.com. Dix Communications. Retrieved April 24, 2009] 
5. ^ Sue Thomas; S. Rickly Christian. Silent Night, Tyndale House Pub ISBN 978-0-8423-5909-2 (July 1990), (English)
6. ^ Sue Thomas; S. Rickly Christian. Silent Night, Tyndale House Pub ISBN 978-0-8423-5909-2 (July 1990), (English)
7. ↑ Global Affairs ( Memento of the original dated November 30, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
8. ↑ Sue Thomas DVD update (English)
9. ↑ [Thomas, Sue. "Sue Bio" Archived copy ( memento of the original dated November 28, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. accessed on October 10, 2011.] 
10. ↑ Sue Thomas: National MS Society (English) accessed on July 16, 2012 ( Memento of the original from May 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ↑ Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.