Despite hearing loss, she found her way to the top

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DESPITE HEARING LOSS, SHE FOUND HER WAY TO THE TOP

Miss America '95 is now committed to showing others how to fulfill their dreams.

July 10, 1995

What if you had never heard your favorite rock band or couldn't talk to your friends on the phone?

How about not being able to hear when your friends are talking in the cafeteria, or not hearing everything the teachers are talking about in class?

This is the world faced by people who are hearing-impaired.

This is also the world faced by Miss America 1995, Heather Whitestone. While visiting Indianapolis to present eight children with her 75 STARS awards, she talked with Children's Express about the challenges she faced to become Miss America and how she wants to help children, especially those who have the same difficulties she has.

Whitestone, 21, communicates by speech as well as lip reading, and she can hold a conversation very well. Some of her consonants are rounded, meaning their sounds are not always distinct; as a result, she emphasizes her words to ensure understanding.

"We don't hear words like you do. It takes more time and it takes more hard work to catch up with the vocabulary you have right now," she said.

Born in Dothan, Ala., Whitestone became deaf after contracting influenza when she was 18 months old. Her parents discovered her hearing loss about a year later.

"My whole family was together for a Christmas party, and my mother dropped a number of pans. It scared everybody but me. I still was playing with the toys," she explained.

Her parents sent her to various therapists to learn auditory-verbal communication - a type of listening that involves using every bit of her remaining hearing (she is about 95 percent deaf), amplified by hearing aids, to hear and communicate.

As a child, her dream was to be a ballerina. Her role model was, and still is, Helen Keller, the deaf and blind woman who was able to attend college despite her problems. "I mean, she was smart, very intelligent, and I admire her so much because she didn't let it stop her," Whitestone said.

When she was 11, Whitestone needed further help and went to the Central Institute for the Deaf in St. Louis. At CID, hearing-impaired students are taught lip-reading and study skills along with all of the usual subjects. They are expected to advance at the rate of one grade level per year; Whitestone progressed six grade levels in three years.

She then was mainstreamed at a high school in Dothan, without using note-takers or any other help. She graduated with a 3.6 grade point average and went to the Alabama School for Performing Arts for one year.

She didn't think about becoming Miss America back then. "I never thought I was that pretty, because I was never asked for a date, like prom or homecoming dates, during high school. So I thought I was ugly."

She entered beauty pageants as a way of earning scholarships. "I entered (the Miss America contest) because I know they are not looking for a beauty queen. They said they were looking for a woman who is a spokesperson with a platform, who has a great education and . . . has a good heart for people."

Now that she is Miss America, Whitestone is traveling the country advocating her STARS program. This is a set of five points that she uses to encourage children, both those who can hear and those who cannot, to try to achieve their goals. They include having a positive attitude, having a dream, working hard, facing one's problems, and having a support team.

Whitestone used these steps to achieve her own goals, and she believes everyone should follow them.

"During my high school and college years, I have seen young people give up their dreams too fast, and they don't have disabilities," she said. "They thought (that) when they fail it should mean a dead-end street, so they gave up easily. They were not motivated enough to keep going, and that's why I wanted to be Miss America."

She sees herself as a good role model for today's youth. "When you watch TV, not many actors or actresses really motivate other persons to keep trying (to reach) their dreams."

She also is crusading for other changes in today's society, such as earlier detection of hearing problems. "Unfortunately, most parents wait for at least 2 1/2 years, maybe they wait later (to have a child tested for hearing loss), and the child is already behind in language because they didn't have the proper training.

"We are encouraging through the media, through the billboards, to let the parents know that if they suspect a hearing problem, they need to get the child to the doctor so they can get the proper training."

While she is currently touring the country and speaking her views, she doesn't plan on continuing to tour after she hands over the Miss America crown. Being Miss America for a year is hard work.

"To me it is a sacrifice. I have to give up my year of personal life. See, I live in a hotel, and I move to different cities every 15 to 36 hours. And sometimes I just want to sit there and relax and I can't. I have to keep going.

"I can't go out," she continued. "I don't see my friends or my family. A lot of people say, `Wow, it's so neat, it's glamour, a vacation,' but it's not a vacation. To me it's more like a business job."

Whitestone is planning on using her $35,000 scholarship to finish college and major in accounting. However, she still would like to help kids. "I would like to continue to promote my STARS program with the children."

Whitestone encourages everyone to be optimistic and not to give up, even after they have failed. "I just tell them that as long as you have a positive attitude in your dreams, especially education, and your willingness to work hard, that you face your problems and you have a support team, you can be successful."

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