On September 17, 1994, Miss America was crowned in Atlantic City. Heather Whitestone, a 21 year old Birmingham native, was the only contestant to win two preliminary competitions in the swimsuit and talent categories. She held the judges and audience in awe with her talent routine, a 2 1/2 minute ballet performed to the song, “Via Dolorosa.”

What makes this so special or different from any other Miss America Pageants? Heather Whitestone lost most of her hearing after a reaction to a diphtheria-tetanus shot when she was 18 months old. Many have praised her for going the distance, but Heather said at the competition, “Everything is possible.”

Throughout history, many people with disabilities have risen above the ranks. Which is not surprising because one in five people have a disability. These disabilities range from physical disabilities to less “visible” ones like learning disabilities.

Most everyone knows Chris Burke and Andrea Friedman from “Life Goes On”. Both actors have Down Syndrome and mild learning disabilities. Lou Ferrigno and Maralee Matalin are both deaf actors. Steve Wonder, Ray Charles, and Roy Orbison just scratch the surface of famous people who are blind.

Franklin D. Roosevelt was the most powerful president in U.S. history and he was a polio survivor. Whenever he gave a speech, he almost always did it without his wheelchair. He also ignored the Secret Service about driving his own car. Someone that no one can forget is Helen Keller. She became blind and deaf from a disease in infancy. She learned to communicate with hand-in-hand sign language.

One of my favorite television shows of all time is M*A*S*H. If you look carefully at some of the episodes you can see that Gary Berghoff (Radar) had a smaller left hand and that he would always try to hide it in each episode. Alan Alda (Hawkeye) is said to be a Polio survivor. William Christopher (Father Mulcahy) has an autistic son and he and his wife are very active in the Autism Society of America.

“Come to the dark side, Luke”, Darth Vadar’s voice was done by James Earl Jones who has a stuttering disability. Famous country singer and “Cannonball Run” star Mel Tillis also has a stuttering disability.

I really liked the way the show “MacGyver” used the real life disability of Dana Elkar. He was affected by glaucoma and instead of writing him off the show, they used it on the show. Make-believe imitating real life, go figure.

Whoopi Goldberg and Tom Cruise both have Dyslexia. Nancy Reagan has or had Cancer (Not sure if it’s all gone or not). Danny Glover has epilepsy.

Peter Falk has an artificial eye. Dudley Moore was born with a club foot. Race car driver, Mario Andretti is a diabetic. Florence Henderson (Mrs. Brady) was born with spina bifida. And the list goes on.

For the most part, these people were made famous by their achievements, not their disabilities. They put their best efforts forward and reached for their dreams. The odds of making a list like this are better, one in five, than getting struck by lightning. Just ask Benjamin Franklin.

Remember: Everything is possible!

Originally written: September 1994, Bill Micklitz