grannyD

Doris "Granny D" Haddock, born in 1910 in Laconia, New Hampshire worked and raised
her family during the Great Depression and later worked in a shoe factory in Manchester
for 20 years. A long time activist, she and her husband Jim campaigned to stop the planned
use of hydrogen bombs in Alaska in 1960. The couple retired to Dublin, New Hampshire,
where the couple was active in community affairs.Granny D nursed her husband through
10 years of Alzheimer's disease. During her famous walk across the country, despite
suffering from severe emphysema and arthritis, Granny D walked 10 miles a day for 14
months, making speeches along the way. when she arrived in Washington, D.C. , she was
met by 2,200 people, representing a variety of reform groups. Several dozen congressional
members also walked the final miles with her. Since the walk, Granny D has been involved
in voter registration and when no Democrat would run against U.S. Senator Judd Gregg
in New Hampshire, Granny D ran at the age of 94, refusing all special PAC contributions.
Her memoir is titled Granny D:
You're Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell.
http://grannyd.com
Granny D: You're Never Too Old to Raise a Little Hell.

Ms. Whitestone became the first Miss America with a disability in 1994. She became
profoundly deaf at age eighteen months old after being diagnosed with the Haemophilus
influenzae virus. Determined to live a normal life, Ms. Whitestone attended public schools
until she found herself falling behind her peers at age eleven. After attended a special
school that would enable her to catch up, she returned to Alabama to graduate from
public high school. Due to financial hardship at home, Ms. Whitestone competed in local
pageants to earn money to pay for college. She made it to the Miss Alabama pageant only
to come in second place twice and the gave it one more shot and won, stunning the
audience with a ballet routine. As Miss America Ms. Whitestone was able to promote
her cause to identify early hearing loss. Since relinguishing her title, Ms. Whitestone
made her professional ballet debut with the Alabama Ballet company in 1996 and continues
to be a spokesperson for different companies such as Starkey laboratories which makes
hearing instruments and Cochlear Americas, subsequent to having cochlear implant
surgery herself in 2002. Ms. Whitestone has authored two books, Listening with My
Heart and Believing The Promise.

Marla Runyan, born in 1969 in California is a professional runner and the first legally
blind person to earn a spot on the U.S. Olympic Team. Diagnosed with Stargardt's
Disease as a child, Runyan has been legally blind for 20 years. Stargardt's is a type of
macular degeneration. Runyan can read with magnification and has a special software
program called ZoomtextXtra which magnifies the screen up to 16 times its normal
size with an optional voice output system that will read as she types. It is challenging
for her to recognize faces nearby. But because she has good peripheral vision, Runyan
can ride a bike slowly and run very quickly independently. Runyan attended San Diego
State University and earned a B.A. in Education of the Deaf and a M.S. in Education of Deaf-
Blind Children. She has been volunteering as the first ever Ambassador for Perkins
School for the Blind since 2001 and has met many amazing students there. The Perkins
School in Watertown, Massachusetts is remembered for its most famous student, Helen Keller.
http://www.marlarunyan.com/
http://www.perkins.org/

Marlee Matlin

Marlee Matlin, born 1965 in Illinois, is an Academy -Award winning actress who is almost
completely deaf. She lost most of her hearing at the age of 18 months following a bout of
roseola infantum. Matlin made her stage debut at age seven as Dorothy in The Wizard of Oz
and continued to appear with the same children's theater group throughout her childhood.
She won a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Drama for her 1986 film debut in
Children of a Lesser God. Ms. Matlin has had many television and movie roles since then,
including a starring role playing a character who was not deaf in the film Against Her Will:
The Carry Buck Story. Matlin has published a novel for children in 2002 titled, Deaf Child
Crossing with soon to come sequels, Nobody's Perfect and Leading Ladies. Matlin also
serves on the boards of several charities including VSA Arts, Easter Seals, The children
Affected by AIDS Foundation and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marlee_Matlin
http://www.marleematlinsite.com/
Dear Child Crossing

Helen Keller

Helen Keller (1880-1968) is one of the most well known writers, speakers and political
activists who set an example of the greatness an individual can achieve. She was born
on an estate in Alabama and became blind and deaf at nineteen months after she came
down with an infection, possibly scarlet fever or meningitis. By age 7, she had invented
over 60 different signs which she used to communicate with her family. Her mother
contacted the Perkins School for the Blind and was referred to teacher Anne Sullivan who
was visually impaired herself. Ms. Sullivan, then only 20 years old came to live and work
with Helen Keller and began a 49 year long relationship. Keller attended the Perkins
School for the Blind in 1988, the wright-Humason School for the Deaf in 1984, The Cambridge
School for Young Ladies in 1898 and graduated from Radcliffe College in 1904 at the age of
24 becoming the first deaf and blind person to graduate from a college. Helen Keller was a
suffragist, pacifist, a member of the socialist Party and a birth control supporter. She founded
Helen Keller International, an organization dedicated to preventing blindness. She
received many honors and had met every U.S. president during her lifetime. Her lengthy
autobiography The Story of My Life was published in 1903. Keller wrote a total of 11 books.
http://www.helenkeller.org/graphicversion/bio.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_Keller
The Story Of My Life

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