Katie Wanker
1-21-05
Pageants for Deaf Americans
There are several
different types of pageants that Deaf Americans can be involved in. There
are pageants for boys and girls, and men and women. There are pageants for
specific races also. Most pageants are held yearly, and some every two
years. The purpose of holding a pageant is to gain self-confidence and
poise. Pageants are usually held in local areas, and then they move to
state competitions. The winners from state competitions will then move on
to national level and sometimes even world levels.
One pageant that
deaf women can participate in is the Miss Deaf America Pageant (MDPA). This
pageant was begun by man named Douglas J. Burke, in 1966. He started a
Natural Cultural Program within the National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
in hopes of finding the talents hidden within deaf people. Dr. Burke says
the pageant is a “way to recognize deaf actresses at an early age.”
Eventually, with the help of the NAD, the Miss Deaf America Talent Pageant
was created as a part of the National Cultural Program. (“MDAP History”)
The Miss Deaf
America Pageant offers women between the ages of 18-28 a wonderful
opportunity to develop a self-confidence that they might not be able to
receive from every day life. The women will compete to become a goodwill
ambassador and a spokeswoman for the National Association of the Deaf. The
goal of this Pageant is to “encourage and foster future leaders” (“MDAP
History”). This Pageant was begun as “…a new concept to help us evaluate
the image and self-concept of deaf ladies throughout the United States.
This is not an ordinary contest...” There are many different categories that
the contestants compete in. Cultural talent performance is one of the
biggest categories. Other categories are beauty, poise, gracefulness, and
desirable qualities. (“MDAP History”)
The first
MDAP Pageant was held in Miami Beach, Florida. It was held during the 1972
NAD Convention. The Pageant had only a total of five contestants. Since
the first Pageant there have been some changes. In 1976 the Pageant title
Miss Deaf America Talent Pageant was changed to Miss Deaf America Pageant.
The contestants compete at the local and state competitions first and then
move on to the National level. The women are now judged on many other
things than just their talent. Some of the categories include community
service, academics, current events, knowledge of deaf culture, and public
speaking. The women were required to make a three-minute presentation at
the 1998 Pageant in San Antonio, Texas. Each year the pageants have a
theme. The theme at the 2000 Pageant was “Charting New Waters”. The
pageant had 25 contestants and was held at Norfolk, Virginia. (“MDAP
History”)
Another
pageant for deaf, adult women is the NAD Miss Deaf America pageant. The
winner of this pageant has to be able to fulfill a list of duties for the
next year. “NAD Miss Deaf America begins her reign when she wins the
pageant until the next NAD conference. She will do various appearances such
as; welcoming remark/greetings give presentations on the topic of their
choice, question and answer sessions, attend workshops, storytelling,
autograph sessions, and other various things.” (“NAD”)
Another pageant,
open only to teens, is the Mr./Miss Deaf Teen Pageant. In order to be in
this pageant, contestants must fulfill all of the requirements. Contestants
can be men or women, but you must be between the ages of 13-19 and must be
in eighth to eleventh grade. The student must be from a mainstreamed
program or school for the deaf, and must be deaf or hard of hearing. The
contestants will be representing their school as a good role model and so
they should follow their school rules. Another requirement is fluency in
ASL. “The contestant should have fluent receptive and expressive sign
communication skills and know a lot about American Sign Language’s
background.” (Gage) There are a lot of requirements to be in this pageant
but it is well worth the time and effort.
One other pageant
is specifically for black women. There are a few requirements that the
contestants have to fulfill in order to be in the pageant. The contestants
must be single, never married, and must have never given birth to a child or
be pregnant at the time of the pageant. The woman has to be with in the age
limit of 18-30. There are quite a few more requirements that also go along
with being in this pageant. (Williams 1) This pageant is the opportunity
for deaf, black women to compete with other women that are most like them.
These are all
different pageants that are specifically for deaf Americans. Whether they
are of different races, men or women, teens or adults, there is a pageant
that they can compete in. These pageants give all of the contestants a
chance to compete within the deaf community and also to become spokes men or
women for deaf culture in the American society.
Works
Cited
“Miss Deaf America Pageant History.” Utah Association for the Deaf. 14
January 2005 <http://www.uad.org/mdup/mdap_history.htm>
“NAD National Association of the Deaf.” Miss Deaf America Pageant. National
Association of the Deaf. 24 January 2005 <http://www.nad.org/site/>
Williams, Toronja A. “A Black Deaf Queen Coming Into Her Own.” National
Black Deaf Advocates. 24 January 2005 <http://www.ndba.org/missbda.html>
Gage, Roberta. “Mr./Miss Deaf Teen America.” Gallaudet University Laurent
Clerc National Deaf Education Center. 24 January 2005. <http://clerccenter.gallaudet.edu/DeafTeenAmerica>
Deaf Pageantry
By Sarah Nasim
April 5, 2009
Deaf Pageantry
When imagining a beauty competition, typically you think of bright
lights, beautiful women, fancy dresses, loud music and mainstream media.
These days only a few popular beauty pageants are well known establishments
that are nationally publicized, however who knew such activities actually
exist in the deaf community? Yes, that’s right, deaf beauty pageants exist
and are actually carried on through such popularity and success in the deaf
community.
Heather Whitestone, the green eyed brunette, was the first to popularize
deaf culture in terms of their ability to participate and excel in
activities that hearing people did. In 1995, she was crowned the first deaf
Miss America contestant and glued many deaf hopefuls to their TV screens.
The fact is that many young people face adversities and overcoming
obstacles, especially when they are deaf, so building self esteem and
confidence through things such as pageants is extremely helpful (Whitestone,
H., 1994). Many young women in the deaf community don’t see hearing
impairments as something that should hold them back in their efforts to
pursue their dreams. For this reason exactly, hundreds of deaf beauty
pageants have sprung up nationwide. While many pageants are dedicated to
illustrating intelligence, personality and poise, deaf pageants capture all
these attributes and more with several talent portions demonstrating ASL
translations, dance routines, and artistic expression. Many deaf contests
ants also showcase their talents through ballet, song (through hand
movements), and musical abilities. These women not only represent the deaf
community, but also serve as ambassadors for deaf women all over the world.
ASL is a big portion in these competitions where the whole entire program is
virtually done through signing methods and routines. After winning her
title, Whitestone proudly got before the crowd and signed “I Love You”
exhibiting ASL and her way of life (People, 2002).
These days there are several deaf pageants and organizations aimed not only
at boosting self esteem but also causing awareness so that the deaf
community isn’t treated differently in terms of being handicapped. The Miss
Deaf America Pageant began in 1966 through the National Association of the
Deaf (NAD) which was a competition that focused in on cultural talent
performance (Drummond, M., 2008). These days NAD and other organizations
receive much praise in terms of their excellent abilities to help deaf
communities nationwide excel in all sorts of activities.
It’s important that people in the deaf community are viewed as everyday
people with a small disability, and deaf pageants are organized in such a
way that being deaf is beautiful. The terms of the pageant are very similar
to any other pageant where physical beauty, and poise are helpful in
determining the winner, however, for the most part judges look at talent as
their main component. ASL plays a huge role, where many of the contestants
are signers as opposed to oralists who have cochlear implants to aid their
hearing. Signing is often seen as an artistic form of expression where
several hopefuls sing, dance and tell stories using their hands. The same
goes for deaf comedians who are very expressive in relating funny stories
using their hands, body gestures and facial expressions. Overall, I was
intrigued by this topic simply because it sends a positive reinforcing
message to young deaf girls who may feel insecure about their deafness.
Programs like this should be widely recognized on a national scale in hopes
of causing awareness.
References
Whitestone, Heather. (1994). Anything is possible. American Rehabilitation,
20.
Retrieved 01, April 2009 from: http://xerxes.calstate.edu.proxy.lib.csus.edu/sacramento/?base=metasearch&action=record&group=000464&resultSet=015402&startRecord=23
People. (2002). A joyful noise. Vol. 58. Retrieved 01, April 2009 from:
http://xerxes.calstate.edu.proxy.lib.csus.edu/sacramento/?base=metasearch&action=record&group=000464&resultSet=015402&startRecord=1
Drummond, Megan. (2008) Miss Deaf America. Retrieved 31, March 2009 from:
http://deafness.suite101.com/article.cfm/miss_deaf_america