Kerry Thompson, Founding Executive Director
kerry@silentrhythmsboston.org
Kerry M. Thompson is the Executive Director for Silent Rhythms, Inc., which she founded in 2008 with the mission to creating inclusion in the arts for people of all abilities. She is a renowned dance instructor and has performed worldwide including in Paris and Havana.
In addition, she is a global human rights activist driven by her own struggles as a person with Deafblindness. She co-created Text4Deaf, a communication tool to bridge the communication gap between the Deaf and Hearing communities in healthcare. Since 2008, she has worked to advance human rights in developing countries as part of her work with the Disability Rights Fund. She is the co-author for Human Rights and Adolescence (2014. University of Pennsylvania Press) and has written several blogs such as “Deafblindness. The Left Behinds in a Leave No One Behind Era.” She currently serves as the Vice Chair on the Massachusetts Statewide Advisory Council, the Board of Directors for DEAF, Inc. and is a Board Liaison for the DeafBlind Community Access Network (DBCAN) Advisory Council.
In 2014, she was awarded the German Marshall Fund for the United States’ Marshall Memorial Fellowship becoming the first woman with a disability to be awarded this fellowship. In 2016, she became a White House Fellowship National Finalist. In 2017, she was awarded the Women in Latin Dance (WILD) Award. She completed a Master’s degree in Human Development and Psychology from Harvard University with a focus on international law and human rights.
Watch Kerry’s keynote speech at the 2018 UP Awards at WGBH on why the arts matter.
Email:kerry@silentrhythmsboston.org
Twitter: @KerrySpeaksUp
