Dr. Shirin Antia died on February 6th, 2022. I can’t believe I wrote that sentence. Shirin has been a part of my academic life since I had an academic life.
She was at my first professional conferences in the US (AERA in New Orleans, 2000) and internationally (ICED in Australia, same year). I can barely remember a time when my work within deaf education did not have a direct connection to her scholarship, mentorship, and welcoming presence in the academic community.
Shirin was part of a cohort of scholars in deaf education that is now in or near retirement, one that raised my own mid-career generation. Her contributions started early and continued even up to the weeks before she died. To list them all would be too much to ask in this memoriam post.
A quick online search will pull up seminal articles, chapters, and books across many domains in deaf education, including peer relationships, social emotional development, co-enrollment, and professional development. She was also a strong presence in work with the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education as well as publications in the Perspectives in Deafness series at the Oxford University Press.
With COVID-19, my once near-weekly travel schedule ground to a halt. When I think about those people that I have been without for the last two years, it is often my colleagues — people who are part of that connective tissue that is so important in our field — that I miss without truly realizing how much has been lost. Shirin is among those that I had been looking forward to sharing space with again. I’ve sat in many conference rooms and restaurant patios with Shirin, both traveling and graciously hosted in her home in Tuscon, Arizona.
Those memories will sustain, but not replace, her presence in our hearts as we all move forward.
There are many, many of us who are in debt to her gifts and who are in shock, trying to grapple with the fact that she is no longer with us on this side of the veil. I grieve with (and worry for) my colleagues who I know are in mourning, and of course her family and beloved circle of close friends. Although we are all far apart physically at this time, her joy, lightness of foot, dynamic personality, and infectious smile will always be with us.
Rest in peace, Shirin.