A renowned
high diver and
stuntwoman, Kitty O'Neil was born in 1946. As an
infant she was stricken with
measles,
mumps, and
scarlet fever in quick succession, leaving her profoundly
deaf and with no
balance. Her mother taught her to
read lips and speak, and Kitty never learned much
sign language. She was
mainstreamed in a hearing school by the age of eight, and graduated from
Anaheim High School with honors. She had competed in
high diving while in high school, but a year after graduation nearly died from
spinal meningitis. Two years after her recovery, though, she won diving championships. When she was finally too old to compete, she married a hearing
stuntman who trained her in his profession. Despite being just five feet three inches tall and weighing under 100 pounds, Kitty also found work as a
daredevil - in 1977 she set a
world record for land speed by reaching 412
mph in just 3.22 seconds. In 1979, Kitty's life was made into the
TV movie Silent Victory: The Kitty O'Neil Story starring
Stockard Channing as Kitty, and
Brian Dennehy and
Colleen Dewhurst as her parents.
Sources:
http://www.wpsd.org/deafawareness/koneil.html
http://www.the-rocketman.com/kitty.html
http://us.imdb.com/Title?0079910