josiah ethan york was born in virginia, but spent a majority of his youth in georgia. he was a happy go lucky little kid, someone who was always busy and always on the go. he had a natural curiosity that lent to him getting in trouble fairly often, but for the most part he was a joy to be around. josiah had what he believed to be a typical childhood right up until he was six years old. that was the year that he got sick with the measles and as a result of the very high fever that went with it, lost his hearing. adjusting to was difficult for the little boy and while he and his father were both learning how to communicate with one another he had a tendency to lash out and throw tantrums due to frustration. rather than sending him back to the regular elementary school he'd been attending, he went to georgia school for the deaf in cave spring. together, he and his father learned how to sign and communicate with one another and the bond they shared grew even stronger.

by the time he was ten, josiah's father was in the process of getting engaged and married to a woman that he had met when they moved to cave spring. in the marriage jo acquired a sister that was two years older than him. at first they skirted around one another, uncertain of the other's presence in their life, but soon enough he hit it off with sophie and the pair became inseparable. although they went to different schools, they spent all of their free time together. through sophie, jo was able to adjust even more into the hearing world. before her he had been entirely immersed in the deaf community and by hanging out with her and her friends, he was able to develop the skills he needed to actively participate in the hearing world. this gave him a great advantage when the family packed up and moved from georgia to new york when jo's stepmother was transferred with her job.

in new york jo attended lexington school for the deaf until he graduated at the age of seventeen. that spring, with the help of corrective surgery and a cochlear implant, josiah was given the chance to rejoin the hearing community. thanks to the first six years of his life that helped develop the speech and hearing portions of his brain, it was much easier for jo to make a transition back into hearing. after an intense summer of auditory-verbal therapy, josiah started his first semester at nyu. while attending classes he was given the opportunity to work for the university as well in their interpreting and translation services. although he still is considered full time, jo lightened his course load so that he could take on more hours of interpreting in order to move out of the dorms and into his own apartment.

the summer that jo turned twenty-one, his father was diagnosed with cancer. they went through a year of treatments but the following may, when it became clear that it was ineffective, jo moved home to georgia with his dad to spend the last few months back at their family home. he was able to spend everyday with him, exploring their land and enjoying the hot georgia summer until his father was too sick to be up and around. when it became clear that they were getting to the last few days, jo's father had a private conversation with him that changed everything he knew about his childhood and his life. after his father passed away and jo packed up what was left in the house, he returned to new york to start another semester at nyu and to sit on his father's secret, unable to fully digest it.

while living in new york, josiah met and befriend dexter sullivan. throughout the duration of jo's time at nyu, he and dexter were on-again-off-again, before finally settling on on-for-good. they were married in california and then briefly moved to colorado to help jo's family as one of his family members needed round the clock care. they recently have returned to new york where jo is once again working at nyu part time, and divides the rest of his time with helping to care for a teenage foster child staying in their home.

full name Josiah Sullivan birth date + age June 8 + 25 place of birth Fairfax, Virginia current residence Manhattan, New York relationship status put a ring on it occupation interpreter

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