Miss Deaf America is an ambassador, a spokeswoman and a role model. Next year, she may also be a University alumna.
Next summer, Ashley Beghtel, a senior in the College of Education’s Family and Human Services program, will represent Oregon at the biennial national competition in New Orleans.
“I want to show that by winning this title,” she said, “I can do anything hearing people can do.”
In June, Beghtel was crowned Miss Deaf Oregon at the Salem Conference Center.
Her win was partially based on “Dare to Dream,” her presentation about playing lacrosse and being the first deaf female NCAA Division I athlete.
“That was my passion,” Beghtel said. “I didn’t have to memorize any lines, it just came straight from the heart.”
Beghtel, who has been deaf since she contracted spinal meningitis as a baby, grew up playing soccer. She was eventually introduced to lacrosse by her brother, who played at Southridge High School in their hometown of Beaverton, Ore.
“I found out about lacrosse and said, ‘Oh, that’s what I’m going to be about; I’m on it,” Beghtel said.
Though she started her college career at Western Oregon University, Beghtel transferred to the University during the spring term of 2004 to play lacrosse. Communicating with her teammates was difficult at first, she said.
“People had never had experience with the deaf community before me, so it was a big challenge,” she said.
She added that many of her teammates later studied American Sign Language, which Jo Larson teaches at the University.
Larson, a communication disorders & sciences instructor, had two deaf parents, and grew up speaking ASL before she learned English.
She said it’s important to raise awareness because there are so many misconceptions about deaf people.
Last week was Deaf Awareness Week and on Sunday, the Eugene Public Library set up a free viewing of “Through Deaf Eyes,” a PBS documentary exploring the history and culture of deaf life in the United States.
Technical difficulties prevented the closed captioning from working. As there were many deaf people in the audience who rely on the captions, Ilana Sophia, the reference librarian who set up the program, scrapped the documentary in favor of a panel discussion.
“It was really fantastic,” Sophia said. “It was really educational for everyone; we all learned from this.”
One featured panelist was Linda Collins, who owns Accessibility Northwest, an ASL interpreter agency in Eugene. Collins said she doesn’t think one week is enough.
“Deaf awareness should be all the time, not just a week,” she said.
The University’s Disability Services also provides interpreters and other resources for deaf students, such as FM listening systems. FM systems are two-part assisted listening devices.
“You have a transmitter and receiver so it’s like a little sound system,” explained Molly Sirois, an counselor with Disability Services. “It’s like a little microphone that the instructor wears and a receiver that the student wears.”
Beghtel said it’s nice that the University has support for those who need it, deaf or otherwise.
Some of her favorite aspects of being Miss Deaf Oregon include being a positive role model for the deaf community and raising awareness.
“I feel better able to spread the word among everyone about the positivity deaf people can share with other people,” she said.