Henrietta Hay's Column

I have never watched a Miss America pageant. Beautiful women are definite assets in the human equation, but since most of us do not entirely fit the description, I'm not impressed by contests based on beauty alone. I never realized that even Miss America would get involved in political controversy.

Then along comes a Miss America pageant that does something so surprising that I have to take back some of the nasty things I have said about it. It selected a handicapped woman as the winner. Of course, her handicap is inside her head and in no way interferes with a very beautiful exterior. Heather Whitestone, Miss America is profoundly deaf.

Impaired hearing is something with which I am all too familiar, but I cannot begin to understand the situation of the profoundly deaf. The majority of us who say, "What?" a lot learned to talk before we lost our hearing. We often can't hear what others say, but we know what speech sounds like. Miss America doesn't know that. She has probably never heard her own voice utter a complete sentence.

When the shock wore off after learning that her 18 month daughter was deaf, Heather's mother rallied with the words, "OK . . . no more pity parties," and started searching for methods of deaf communication. There are two basic ones; American Sign Language(ASL), and a combination of speaking and lip reading. They involve completely different languages and life styles. Heather's mother chose speaking. For hours every day little Heather was grilled on listening and enunciation. It took six years for her to be able to pronounce her own name. At five she started ballet in order to develop natural rhythm and help her speaking.

Heather was not chosen Miss America as a deaf woman. She was selected as woman who is deaf. She charmed the judges with her skill at lip reading, her speech which is only minimally impaired and her talent. Her performance at the pageant was a beautifully performed ballet, an almost impossible achievement for a deaf woman. On the evening of September 17 she could not hear the announcement that she had just been named Miss America. The first runner-up, Miss Virginia turned to Heather and told her what she could read in her friend's face, but was unable to hear, "You won."

But the deaf community is uncomfortable because they do not think she is represents them. Among the deaf, status comes from using ASL, a conceptual language, and going to a deaf school. Sherry Duhon, campus relations director at Gallaudet University, the world's only liberal arts university for the deaf said, "Whitestone doesn't belong to either the hearing or the deaf community...She was brought up in a hearing environment. She is not fluent, in other words." Another Gallaudet staffer added, "Heather's not 'culturally deaf'...a lot of us feel she shouldn't represent us to the mainstream world." Of course not. She represents herself.

ASL and spoken English are two different languages. The goal of each is to allow a deaf person to communicate as much as possible with other people. The method chosen has to be a very personal decision based on many factors, such as parental feelings and professional counsel.

I certainly don't know whether it is better to learn to sign and live chiefly in the deaf world, or to try to speak and read lips and survive in the hearing world, or whether you even have to choose. My friend the speech therapist prefers "total communication," which means using as much as possible of everything -- speech, signing, lip reading, and language development auditory development.

All of these involve difficulties the rest of us can never know. Heather has surmounted incredible odds. She says, "It is our responsibility to overcome the barriers which prevent us from reaching our dreams. As a profoundly deaf woman, my experiences have shown me the impossible is indeed possible."

Marlee Matlin, one of my favorite actresses has also proved that the impossible is possible. She too speaks and signs and knows what is like to be in both worlds.

As to the controversy, Heather adds, "Every individual should look for whatever communication option imparts the most self-esteem."

I think I'll start watching Miss America pageants. Who knows what barrier they'll knock down next year?