Heather Whitestone was born in Dothan in 1973. As a toddler, at just 18-months old, she developed an ear infection as happens to many young children. However, the infection turned serious, and Heather lost her hearing before she had even mastered speech.
The rest of her life would be steered by that deafness: from idolizing Hellen Keller’s can-do spirit, to her education, to her later-life career, Whitestone became an activist for the deaf. And it is that drive that sets her apart.
As a child, falling behind on her schoolwork, she asked to attend a special school for the deaf in St.