Cheryl McCoy-Gealey lost her hearing at two years old, in a small Caribbean territory with almost no provision for deaf children. Her parents sent her abroad to be educated and were ridiculed for it. She went on to found the Cayman Islands Deaf Association, receive a national honour, and raise a daughter who became a television actress.
Quick Bio / At a Glance
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Cheryl Anita McCoy-Gealey |
| From | Cayman Islands |
| Became Deaf | At age two, following pneumonia |
| Parents | Harry and Theoline McCoy |
| Founded | Cayman Islands Deaf Association |
| National Honour | Cayman Islands Medal of Honour for Community Service |
| Recent Work | The Cheryl McCoy Gealey Foundation, launched 2025 |
| Focus | Deaf education, sign language access, digital inclusion |
| Daughter | Grace Byers, actress |
Losing Her Hearing
Cheryl Anita McCoy became deaf at two years old, following a bout of pneumonia.
The Cayman Islands in that era had effectively no specialist education for deaf children. Her parents, Harry and Theoline McCoy, made the decision to send her overseas to a specialist school — a significant financial and personal cost, and one that attracted open criticism in a small community.
That decision is the foundation of everything she has done since, and she has been consistent about saying so.
Building Deaf Provision in the Cayman Islands
The Association
She founded the Cayman Islands Deaf Association, the territory’s principal organisation for deaf people. In a jurisdiction of that size, founding the first body of its kind means building the infrastructure from nothing — interpreter provision, sign language teaching, advocacy with government, and a community for people who had previously been isolated from one another.
National Recognition
She was awarded the Cayman Islands Medal of Honour for Community Service, the territory’s recognition of significant civic contribution.
The Foundation
In 2025 she launched the Cheryl McCoy Gealey Foundation, a nonprofit focused on deaf education and digital inclusion — extending the work into accessible learning technology and mentoring younger deaf leaders.
Grace Byers
Her daughter, Grace Byers, was born in the Cayman Islands and is best known for playing Anika Calhoun across Fox’s Empire, and for her role in Amazon’s Harlem.
Byers grew up with deaf parents and is a fluent signer. She has spoken repeatedly and publicly about that upbringing, and she has written children’s books — including I Am Enough — whose themes of self-worth and difference come directly out of it.
The relationship between the two runs in both directions: Byers has used her platform to raise the visibility of deaf advocacy, and her mother’s work is the reason she has anything to say about it.
Why This Career Is Unusual
Deaf advocacy in large countries has institutions, funding streams and a long organised history. In a territory with a population in the tens of thousands, the entire structure has to be built by individuals.
McCoy-Gealey is that individual for the Cayman Islands: a person who was sent away as a child because there was no provision, and who came back and built it.
A Note on Sources
The core of this record — the deafness following pneumonia, the founding of the association, the Medal of Honour, and her relationship to Grace Byers — is consistently reported. Specific dates, the 2025 foundation launch and details of her parents come from secondary profiles rather than from primary documents, and should be read accordingly.
More profiles of parents behind public figures: Judith Kent and Maura Mendoza Garcia.
