A perspective shaped by what gets overlooked—and who pays for it.
The story is
personal.
My father Jeffrey was Deaf. He worked on an aviation assembly line for years, building things with his hands that actually flew. Then the work was outsourced, the plant shut down, and he spent the rest of his life on disability.
I grew up as a CODA, aka "Child of Deaf Adults." I grew up translating more than language: medical appointments, legal documents, and the distance between what systems promise and what they deliver to people who don’t fit the default.
That education never left me. Today I build workforce pathways and bring regional builders together through Basecamp Foundation, while writing about the Deaf innovators erased from our histories.
BETHANY GUAJARDO
What I'm
working on.
Workforce access, regional industry, and overlooked history are connected parts of the same work.
Workforce access, regional industry, and overlooked history are connected parts of the same work.
One foundation.
Connected work.
Basecamp Foundation is the home for workforce development, community gatherings, accelerators, and grants.
Our other efforts extend that work in distinct ways.
Basecamp Foundation is the home for workforce development, community gatherings, accelerators, and grants.
Our other efforts extend that work in distinct ways.
EXTENDING THE WORK
Focused efforts beyond the foundation
Focused efforts beyond the foundation
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They Built It First.
The Deaf Inventors Who Made the Modern World
Deaf engineers, educators, and community builders helped lay the foundations of mass media, telecommunications, and civil rights. Their contributions belong in the history their work made possible.
This book is an act of remembering—and a challenge to what we choose to recognize as innovation.
“The Deaf Community Built Telecom.
Big Tech Just Uses It.”
The book’s argument, brought to the stage.
Basecamp Foundation is the home for workforce development, community gatherings, accelerators, and grants.
Our other efforts extend that work in distinct ways.
Focused efforts beyond the foundation
MANUSCRIPT STATUS
They Didn't Listen.
We'll Remember.
On January 12, 2026, the Stokes County Board of Commissioners approved Project Delta—a massive data center—despite:
📢 Hundreds of residents showed up to the meeting
🚫 Overflow rooms filled, protests outside
📝 3,200+ petition signatures opposing
❌ Planning Board voted NO in December
🪦 Sacred Saura tribal burial grounds threatened
🏛️ Historic Hairston plantation site at risk
The Commissioners Voted "Yes" Anyway.
Project Delta was approved despite massive opposition.
They didn't just ignore US.
They ignored their OWN COMPREHENSIVE PLAN.
Commissioners voted 3-2 to approve rezoning DESPITE this conflict and DESPITE not even living in Walnut Cove!
Keith Wood, Sonya Cox, and Rick Morris voted YES.
•No explanation given for how this aligns with the 2035 Plan.
•No amendment to the Plan proposed.
•No acknowledgement of the risks presented by professionals and constituents.
They just... ignored it.
Why Have a Comprehensive Plan if You Ignore It?
The 2035 Land Use Plan was developed through:
The Project Delta approval only took:
"We've been working for 20 years to find revenue like this"
- Commissioner Rick Morris
Translation: "We don't care what the Plan says. We want the money."
Three Battles. One Campaign.
We may have lost the vote. But this is just beginning.