Heather Whitestone Mccallum Thesis

Heather Whitestone McCallum, more widely known as the first Miss Deaf America, was born on February 24, 1973 in Alabama. Today she lives in St. Simon’s Island, Georgia, has four children and is married to John McCallum. She is an author of three different books, the most popular being Believing the Promise: Daily Devotions for Following Your Dreams, in which she talks about her motivation.

At the age of eighteen months old, Heather was diagnosed with the Haemophilus influenza virus and a dangerously high fever that caused her to lose her hearing. She was only hours away from death when she received the medicine that saved her life. After she became deaf, her mother was determined for her daughter to learn to speak and enrolled Heather in dance

This entered her into the Miss America pageant. In the pageant, Heather performed ballet en pointe to Via Dolorosa by memorizing the beats of the music, and she won the talent portion of the contest. Heather was not allowed to have an interpreter or any help in the contest, so she had to talk in order to deliver her message to the audience. Towards the end of the pageant, it was down to Heather Whitestone and Miss Virginia, Culen Johnson. It was announced that Johnson was the first runner up and that Heather had won, and became known as Miss Deaf

She also promoted her S.T.A.R.S. program; Success Through Actions and Realizations of your Dreams. Heather also worked with all children to teach and show her belief that positive thinking is the key to success. She travelled around the country to 48 different states to speak to several companies and organizations. Heather met the then current President Bill Clinton who appointed her to be a board member in Washington D.C. for the Employment of People with Disabilities. She also served as a board member to the White House Council of the