Meet Diana Pryntz, 2023 Jefferson Award winner

Diana Pryntz was born deaf in Chicago.

She moved to the Bronx when she was 1, later studying at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester.

As a deaf person, Diana felt like opportunities were limited, which is why she became an advocate for deaf refugees, helping found the organization, Deaf Refugee Advocacy, or DRA.

The organization helps people who were born in another country resettle in Rochester, like immigrants and asylum seekers, and traverse a world not geared to them.

“We make sure that they feel comfortable navigating the systems that are here in our country and trying to figure out how to get through,” Pryntz said.

Learn more about Pryntz during a special program airing at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, June 3 on News10NBC.