Heather Whitestone: Miss America, Deafness, and Controversy

Introduction: A Crown and a Controversy

When Heather Whitestone became Miss America, it might be assumed that all of her fellow deaf Americans felt a swell of pride in their collective hearts. But Whitestone's ascent to the title proved to be one of the most controversial Miss America selections since the debate over Vanessa Williams' decision to pose for nude photographs before assuming the crown. Initially, the decision that was so controversial in Whitestone's life was not one Heather had made herself. Rather, it was a decision her parents had made for her — namely, how to educate this young, deaf girl. Heather Whitestone's support for orally-based deaf education and cochlear implants, a stance rooted in her upbringing, has made her a controversial figure in the deaf community even today.

Early Life and the Onset of Deafness

Heather Whitestone was born in the small town of Dothan, Alabama, in April of 1973. She was born with the ability to hear, but when she was eighteen months old she was rushed to the hospital "with a dangerously high fever, the cause of which was later diagnosed as the Haemophilus influenzae virus. Her doctors also suspected that she simultaneously contracted meningitis, as she had a severe blood infection. According to the doctors, she was only hours from death when they administered two powerful antibiotics that reduced her fever and saved her life" ("Heather Whitestone," Perfect People, 2010).

Her parents thought all was well until a few months later, when Heather's mother Daphne dropped some pans on the kitchen floor and Heather did not register the noise. "At the Children's Hospital in Birmingham, Alabama, Heather was found to be profoundly deaf in both ears, most likely the result of her illness" or of the strong antibiotics she had been given to treat it — antibiotics that had weakened the nerves in her ears ("Heather Whitestone," Perfect People, 2010). Today, Heather has a recorded 120-decibel hearing loss in her right ear and a 90-decibel hearing loss in her left ear when wearing her hearing aid. Without her cochlear implant, "I hear nothing from either ear," she states ("FAQ," Heather Whitestone Webpage, 2010).

Oral Education and Its Debates

Heather's parents had never had any experience with deaf culture and had limited experience with deaf people. This was also true of many of the doctors they initially consulted about their daughter's condition, one of whom said it was unlikely that Heather would develop beyond a third-grade academic level ("Heather Whitestone," Perfect People, 2010). Nevertheless, Heather's parents decided to enroll her in a program that emphasized teaching deaf children to use their residual hearing to learn to speak. Heather attended mainstream classes at the local elementary school. "Whitestone's hearing was amplified with a hearing aid, and she was taught to read lips and to speak. The program helped Whitestone to live in the hearing world" ("Heather Whitestone," Alabama, 2003). Heather's mother also obtained a private speech therapist for her daughter. As Whitestone later recalled, "It took me six years to say my last name correctly" ("FAQ," Heather Whitestone Webpage, 2010).

Many deaf education programs — including Gallaudet University, the premier institution of higher education for the deaf in America — oppose this oral approach to deaf education (also known as acoupedics) and characterize it as a failure. According to Margret A. Winzer and Kas Mazurek, the effects of oral-only preschool programs appeared "to be negligible" in terms of aiding deaf children. In fact, "children who signed at home had superior English and academic skills to matched groups of children who did not sign at home, and those who signed at home showed no negative effects on speech or speech reading" (Winzer & Mazurek, 2010). Furthermore, orally-based programs are usually recommended only for children with a high level of residual hearing — unlike Heather. It is important to note, however, when reviewing the current literature, that children who grow up in manual signing households may simply have more deaf-aware parents, and that not all hearing parents of a deaf child who wish to communicate with their child have the ability to quickly become fluent signers.

One incident from Whitestone's life does support the idea that purely oral-based programs are ineffective for the profoundly deaf. "By the age of eleven, Whitestone was falling behind in school. She convinced her parents to send her to the Central Institute of the Deaf in St. Louis, Missouri. There, Whitestone learned sign language and met deaf children from all over the world" ("Heather Whitestone," Alabama, 2003). This was Heather's first introduction to a deaf educational institution. For the first time, she was not the only deaf child in one of her classes. However, even there, an oral rather than a manual approach was emphasized. Heather did not learn sign language at all until the eleventh grade ("FAQ," Heather Whitestone Webpage, 2010).

Works Cited

"FAQ." Heather Whitestone. Official Webpage. February 23, 2010. http://www.heatherwhitestone.com/site/content/faqs.shtml

"Heather Whitestone." Alabama. 2003. February 23, 2010. http://www.al.com/south/celebs3.html

"Heather Whitestone." Perfect People. February 23, 2010. http://www.perfectpeople.net/biography/772/heather-whitestone.htm

Winzer, Margret A. & Kas Mazurek. Special Education in the 21st Century. Chapter 11. New York: Gallaudet Press, 2010. Excerpted at Gallaudet University. February 23, 2010.