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Miss America Informative Speech

898 Words4 Pages

Heather Whitestone McCallum
Miss Deaf America
Intro:
I. Attention Getter: Can you imagine standing onstage, thousands of people cheering in the audience, and millions watching in anticipation from their televisions at home, as you are getting ready to be crowned Miss America, but not being able to hear anything? 29 years ago that is how Heather Whitestone McCallum felt, she was the first Miss America with a disability and she was born right here in Alabama.
II. Listener Relevance Link: Heather Whitestone McCallum was born February 24, 1973 in Dothan, Alabama (The first Deaf Miss America).
III. Speaker Credibility: According to the 2016 Premiere Speakers Bureau, in an article entitled Heather Whitestone, Miss America 1995, Heather lost her hearing at the age of eighteen months when she was rushed …show more content…

III. Third Point: Heather has gone on to do many wonderful things since her reign and is sharing her life story in hopes to inspire others.
A. The Miss America website published an article about Heather and where she is now in her life updated in 2015, it says she wrote four books entitled, Listening with My Heart, Believing the Promise, Let God Surprise You, and Heavenly Crowns.
1. In these books Heather discusses her daily struggles and how she manages to get through them, she shares her faith and how God has helped her in tough situations.
B. On September 19, 2002, John K. Niparko, M.D., Surgically implanted Heather with a cochlear implant at the John Hopkins Hospital.
1. When the device was turned on Heather found herself in a new world. One where she was able to hear her family’s voices, experience the hearing world, and help raise awareness among the hearing-impaired community about the opportunities available for improving speech and language (Premiere Speakers Bureau).

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