Diane received a BS in Deaf Education from Illinois State University in 1974 and completed ASL interpreter training at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee in 1975. Throughout her 41-year career, she held national interpreter certification through Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. She worked with deaf people as an ASL interpreter, a teacher, a job coach, and a social worker. She also taught interpreter students in Wausau (Wisconsin), Minneapolis, and St. Paul.