Daphne Vasquez

Growing Up
Played by, Katie Leclerc Daphne is the deaf daughter of Regina, but is John and Kathryn Kennish's biological daughter. Daphne lost her hearing at a young age due to meningitis, but she is able to hear slightly with the help of hearing aids. Daphne likes Nicki Minaj and claims that she is agnostic. Daphne is best friends with fellow deaf classmate Emmett Bledsoe, who drives her to school every day on his motorcycle. It is clear that Emmett has a crush on Daphne, but she is unaware of this. Daphne is also close with Ty, a boy from her neighborhood, and says that he is "like her big brother”. According to her mother, Daphne's father abandoned her and Regina when Daphne was little. Later in the show, Daphne joins an advanced cooking class at Buckner Hall, Bay's high school, but after one incident, she becomes the object of ridicule of the whole class. She reveals to Bay that when she first went to a hearing school that she was alone and ridiculed by a group of other schoolmates, which was how she met Emmett. He confronted Daphne’s bullies one day then took her home to his mother. There, Daphne witnessed the use of sign language for the first time, and Melody, Emmett’s mom, introduced it to Regina. In a later episode, Emmett and Bay invite Daphne to go to a bar where the two believe the DJ is Bay's dad. Daphne is furious at first, not wanting to see the man who abandoned her and Regina. She refuses to come at first, but after some coaxing from Emmett, she hesitantly accepts. They find out the DJ is not the right guy (as it is a gay bar). Earlier that same day, Daphne is shown to be clearly upset when discovering the large amount of time Emmett and Bay have been spending together. Later she confronts Emmett at their school, asking Emmett what’s going on between him and Bay. He insists nothing is going on between Bay and him, but Daphne is still left unconvinced. At the end of that episode she sneaks Regina's guitar case out of her room after she gives Daphne a vague answer about why she still has it. Daphne spends days trying to figure out the lock code and finds out it is "Bay" (in a number code) and opens it to see a large amount of photos of Bay. Some are of Bay when was little and others of more present times. Some were taken clearly at a distance as well as from bushes. Other findings such as report cards leave Daphne shocked in realization that Regina has always known of the switch and has been keeping track of Bay ever since.