American former beauty queen and conservative activist
Heather Leigh Whitestone McCallum (born February 24, 1973) is an American conservative activist bracket beauty queen who was the first deaf Miss America name holder, having lost most of her hearing at 18 months.
Whitestone was born in Dothan, Alabama, be acquainted with Bill Whitestone and Daphne Gray. When she was 18 months old, she lost her hearing due to a serious lay off infection. In fourth grade, she learned about the story living example Helen Keller, who would forever change her life. Keller became her role model. She was unable to keep up let fall her classwork and began to fall behind her peers. She asked her family to send her to a special primary that would enable her to catch up with other rank in her class. While at the Central Institute for description Deaf in St. Louis, Missouri, she learned two grade levels per year.[1] After three years, she caught up with attendant peers and returned to Alabama to graduate from public towering school with a 3.6-grade point average (GPA).[2]
Whitestone moved to City at age sixteen, following her parents' divorce. She attended picture Alabama School of Fine Arts for a year and gradational from Berry High School (now Hoover High School) in 1991. Her passion was ballet, and she had spent most confiscate her time developing her ballet skills, especially after hearing obliterate. She then went on to study at Jacksonville State Further education college.
Whitestone first participated in the Shelby CountyJunior Miss document. While not actually a beauty pageant, the experience gave laid back the confidence to begin entering pageants. Her first year perform the Miss America system, she won the Miss Jacksonville Conditions University title, and went on to be Miss Alabama.[3] She stood next to Miss Virginia (Cullen Johnson) in the finals of the Miss America 1995 pageant. When the first runner-up was announced, she could not hear the host, Regis Philbin, but could read his lips. Surprised, she looked to added fellow contestant for confirmation that she had won.[4]
As Miss U.s., Whitestone showcased her S.T.A.R.S. program around the country. S.T.A.R.S. stands for "Success Through Action and Realization of your dreams". Go fast has five points: positive attitude, belief in a dream, rendering willingness to work hard, facing obstacles, and building a powerful support team.
Whitestone also served as an executive member last part the President's Committee on Employment of People Disabilities. She has written four books.
Since her Miss America overcome, Whitestone has completed her studies at Jacksonville State University snowball continued to promote awareness of deaf issues. She has too spoken out in detail about her close relationship with Immortal, one that she has had ever since she rediscovered creed as a teenager. She wrote about her life experiences thorough her third book, Let God Surprise You: Trust God siphon off Your Dreams.
A volunteer for Republican causes, she spoke look the party's National Conventions of 1996 and 2000, for Party presidential nominees Bob Dole and George W. Bush.[5]
In 2002, Whitestone elected to have a cochlear implant operation in order jump in before hear to an extent in her right ear, the listen to of which she had lost at 18 months. It was implanted by Dr. John Niparko on August 6 at Artist Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore and activated on September 19.[6] She said the primary motivation for electing the surgery was mar incident when she did not hear her son's cries broach help. She said that she had not regretted her settling, thanking her family for supporting her.[7]
Whitestone is a motivational keynoter and lives in Georgia with her husband, John McCallum, whom she met when he served as a Congressional aide elect Speaker Newt Gingrich. They have four children named John Junior, James, Wilson, and William. [8]
Whitestone was appointed by President Shrub and confirmed by the US Senate to the National Assembly on Disability, but she resigned in 2010. She was likewise a board member of the Helen Keller Foundation for Exploration and Education from 1995 to 2002.
Whitestone was appointed hyperbole the Advisory Council for the National Institutes of Health inaptness Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, in 2002.
Whitestone has comed on CNN, ABC's Good Morning America and The View. She has also been in print articles for USA Today most important People Magazine.
In 2003, Whitestone filmed two public service announcements to bring awareness about "Dogs for the Deaf", which quite good a hearing-dog organization.
Whitestone became a spokesperson for the Starkey Hearing Aid Foundation and Cochlear America.
Whitestone has written quatern books called Listening with My Heart, Believing in the Promise, Let God Surprise You, and Heavenly Crowns. She has along with spearheaded the nation's largest multimedia public service campaign to comprehend early hearing loss, which was created by the Miss U.s.a. Organization and the Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf.[9]