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Heather Whitestone's Disability

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As a profoundly deaf women, my experiences have shown me that the impossible is indeed possible (AZ Quotes). Those words were spoken by someone who broke barriers and changed the face of the pageant industry. Heather Whitestone is Miss America’s first winner with a disability (Miss America). Encountering numerous challenges, Whitestone fought through the pain and found her strength.
Heather Whitestone was born on February 24, 1973 in Dothan, a small town in Alabama (Deaf Is… Culture). At the age of 18 months, Whitestone sadly lost her hearing (Premiere Speakers Bureau). She attended public school without any help from an interpreter, until the age of 12 (Premiere Speakers Bureau). She was enrolled in the Central Institute of the Deaf in St. …show more content…

Previously stated, Whitestone lost her hearing at the age of 18 months, due to either the virus, Haemophilus influenzae or the antibiotics used to cure the virus (Premiere Speakers Bureau). …show more content…

Following Heather Whitestone’s winning of Miss America, she joined several organizations and became a spokeswoman for a few of them to promote deaf awareness (Deaf Is… Culture). The National Council on Disability and the Helen Keller Foundation for Research and Education are two of the few organizations she has served on (Very Well). Moreover, Whitestone started her own program, STARS, an acronym for, Success Through Action and Realization of your DreamS (Premiere Speakers Bureau). Within the program, there are five points that she believes are necessary for achieving success. The five points are, having an encouraging attitude, believing in one’s dreams, be willingly to work diligently, facing one’s obstacles and to build a support team (Premiere Speakers Bureau). Besides starting her own program, she written and published several books. In 1997, she released her first book titled, Listening With My Heart (Premiere Speakers Bureau). Later on in 1999, she released her second book, Believing The Print (Premiere Speakers Bureau). She also made several appearances on magazines and numerous deaf media outlets such as, Ability magazine to help raise awareness among the hearing-impaired community (Very

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