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Annie Whitaker

Dr. Annette Miriam “Annie” Whitaker was an Ashkenazi Jewish psychologist and trauma therapist from Baltimore. The hearing daughter of Saul Rosen and Miri Rosen, she grew up using ASL and English in a Deaf household. She specialized in trauma therapy for foster youth and became Jacob Keller’s long-term therapist. She was married to Robbie Whitaker and was the mother of Lindsay, Leslie, and RJ.

Early Life and Background

Main article: Annie Whitaker and Her Parents

Annie was born in Baltimore in March 1978 as the only child of Saul and Miri Rosen. Both parents were Deaf Polish Jewish Holocaust child survivors, and ASL was used in the family from Annie’s infancy. As a child, she often interpreted for her parents in hearing institutions, including medical, school, and government settings.

Career

Annie worked as a trauma therapist with a specialty in foster youth. She maintained a private practice in Roland Park, Baltimore and began treating Jacob when he was fifteen. Their therapeutic relationship continued across his adolescence and adulthood.

After a hemorrhagic stroke reduced her stamina and affected her processing speed and left-side motor function, Annie shifted more of her work toward clinical supervision and trauma-therapy consultation.

Cultural Identity and Heritage

Annie was Ashkenazi Jewish and a hearing child of Deaf adults. She grew up within Baltimore’s Deaf Jewish community and maintained Jewish family practices including Shabbat dinners, challah baking, high-holiday observance, and yahrzeit remembrance.

Speech and Communication Patterns

Annie was a native user of ASL and English. She often signed while speaking and moved between spoken English and ASL according to the people and setting. She began learning Protactile as RJ’s vision narrowed.

Health and Disabilities

Main article: Usher Syndrome Reference

Annie was an asymptomatic heterozygous carrier at two separate Usher loci: she inherited a USH1F variant from Saul and a different Type I Usher variant from Miri. She and Robbie learned of their carrier status after RJ was diagnosed with USH1F in infancy and the family underwent confirmatory testing.

Main article: Hemorrhagic Stroke Reference

In her late forties, Annie experienced a subarachnoid hemorrhage caused by a ruptured cerebral aneurysm. After emergency treatment and rehabilitation, she retained fatigue, slowed processing speed, and mild left-side weakness. These effects reduced her clinical caseload and required adaptations to her signing and work routines.

Family and Core Relationships

Saul Rosen and Miri Rosen

Main article: Annie Whitaker and Her Parents

Saul and Miri raised Annie in an ASL-first household and remained closely involved in her family throughout adulthood. Annie’s childhood interpreting responsibilities and her parents’ survival histories influenced her later professional work.

Lindsay Whitaker and Leslie Whitaker

Lindsay and Leslie were Annie and Robbie’s identical twin daughters, born in 2007. They grew up using ASL with their grandparents and brother.

Robert “RJ” Whitaker Jr.

Main article: Annie Whitaker and RJ Whitaker

RJ was Annie and Robbie’s youngest child, born in 2012 with USH1F-linked Usher syndrome. Annie learned changing communication and access methods with him as his hearing and vision needs developed.

Romantic and Significant Relationships

Robbie Whitaker

Main article: Annie Whitaker and Robbie Whitaker

Annie met Robbie near the University of Maryland in 2000, and they married in September 2005. They raised their three children in Mt. Washington and later shared their home with Saul and Miri.

Characters Supporting Characters Living Characters Psychologists Jewish Characters Ashkenazi Characters USH1F Carriers ASL Users Whitaker Family