Nyle DiMarco Wants To Empower Others Who Are Deaf

<i><b>Deaf News: 'Dancing with the Stars' winner wants to empower others who are Deaf in the United States and the world.</b></i><br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/07/nyle-dimarco-wants-to-empower-others.html" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img height="217" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0lRNvzTllnoUlddkU5yCye5LUe181nsqW6pV4zub04rR1-SVL1A9kakXBT48DVcKSGSebPIK3fx25uBHd3MI4hNtBb20RRabo0o4GkirKf3Lg92JJoO-Q_Rpt8OgYQ-YxCSNi32_oEYpS/s320/nyle-dimarco-her-deaf-mother.jpg" title="Nyle DiMarco and Her Mother Donna" width="250" /></a>CNN -- When <a href="http://www.nyledimarco.com/" target="_blank">Nyle DiMarco</a> was asked to join season 22 of "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dancing_with_the_Stars_%28U.S._season_22%29" target="_blank">Dancing with the Stars</a>," he almost turned down the opportunity.<br /><br /><br /><br />"I'd never danced in my whole entire life," DiMarco says. "If I failed in the first week that means millions of people would view <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_loss" target="_blank">Deaf</a> people as people that can't dance."<br /><br /><br /><br />But the Deaf model and actor decided to take on the challenge.<br /><br /><br /><br />During a rehearsal, professional dance partner <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peta_Murgatroyd" target="_blank">Peta Murgatroyd</a> cranked the music up so DiMarco could feel the vibrations.<br /><br /><br /><br />"When we danced, it really just threw me off," he says. "I told Peta I've always been Deaf. I'm not used to sound, so I think it's better if we dance without the sound. And after that we did better."<br /><br /><br /><br />Not only did they do better, they won the competition on May 24.<br /><br /><br /><br />"We ended on a good note," he says with a smile.<br /><br /><br /><br />DiMarco was born in <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queens" target="_blank">Queens, New York</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />"We have over 25 Deaf individuals in my family," he explains. "It is genetic, but there's only 10% of Deaf people that actually come from Deaf families."<br /><br /><br /><br />His twin brother Nico and older brother Neal are Deaf, as are his parents, grandparents and great-grandparents.<br /><br /><br /><br />"I really consider myself fortunate having that communication access," the 27-year-old says. "My whole family knows <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Sign_Language" target="_blank">American Sign Language</a>."<br /><br /><br /><br />Because of that, growing up Deaf wasn't an issue. He credits his mom Donna for helping him integrate into the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hearing_%28person%29" target="_blank">hearing</a> world.<br /><br /><br /><br />"My mom did a great job because ever since I was born she would put me into any type of sporting activity with hearing teams," he says. "My mom would often send me out to play with the neighbors, so I felt like I had the best of both worlds."<br /><br /><br /><br />DiMarco went on to graduate with a degree in mathematics from <a href="http://www.gallaudet.edu/" target="_blank">Gallaudet University</a>, a private university for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing in Washington, D.C.<br /><br /><br /><br />"In middle school, I had the best math teacher I've ever had, and he was Deaf...and I felt inspired by him," he recalls. "I knew from then on that I wanted to be a math teacher."<br /><br /><br /><br />But his life took a different turn when Hollywood came calling.<br /><br /><br /><br />The producers of the TV drama ‘<i><a href="http://abcfamily.go.com/shows/switched-at-birth" target="_blank">Switched at Birth</a></i>’ approached him on social media to play a Deaf character on the show.<br /><br /><br /><br />Then "<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Next_Top_Model" target="_blank">America's Next Top Model</a>" producers invited him to audition for season 22, after discovering him on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/nyledimarco/?hl=en" target="_blank">Instagram</a>.<br /><br /><br /><br />But being on the modeling reality show wasn't easy.<br /><br /><br /><br />"I had to live with the models in one big house for two months, 24 hours a day. Only a few of them actually learned how to sign ... I couldn't really communicate with anybody and I felt isolated," he remembers. "I just remained optimistic and I was like, 'I'm gonna win this show.'"<br /><br />And he did.<br /><br /><br /><br />"I'm very visual and through those visual cues, I was able to absorb it really fast," he says.<br /><br />The win led DiMarco to a modeling contract.<br /><br /><br /><br />"All within one year, my life just completely flipped for the better."<br /><br /><br /><br />Now he wants to put his celebrity to good use. He recently founded the <a href="https://nyledimarcofoundation.com/" target="_blank">Nyle DiMarco Foundation</a> to help people in the Deaf community gain access to American Sign Language.<br /><br /><br /><br />"There's 70 million Deaf people in this world and only 2% of them have access to education in sign language," he says. "We're talking about millions of Deaf kids without language, without education."<br /><br />DiMarco wants to change that.<br /><br /><br /><br />"What people don't realize is we have our own beautiful culture. To Deaf kids, they should always find the ability in a disability ... if you do then you will do great things in life."<br /><br /><br /><br /><a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/30/health/turning-points-nyle-dimarco/" target="_blank">SOURCE</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Follow Nyle DiMarco on Social Networking:</b><br /><br />Subscribe - <a href="https://www.youtube.com/nyle222" target="_blank">https://youtube.com/nyle222</a><br /><br />Facebook - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/nyledimarco/" target="_blank">https://facebook.com/nyledimarco</a><br /><br />Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/nyledimarco" target="_blank">https://twitter.com/nyledimarco</a><br /><br />Instagram - <a href="https://instagram.com/nyledimarco/" target="_blank">https://instagram.com/nyledimarco</a><br /><br />Model Mayhem - <a href="http://www.modelmayhem.com/3500494" target="_blank">http://modelmayhem.com/nyledimarco</a><br /><br />Linkedin - <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nyledimarco" target="_blank">https://linkedin.com/in/nyledimarco</a><br /><br />Tumblr - <a href="http://nyledimarco.tumblr.com/" target="_blank">http://nyledimarco.tumblr.com</a><br /><br />Official site - <a href="http://www.nyledimarco.com/" target="_blank">http://nyledimarco.com</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Related Dancing with the Stars:</b><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/02/nyle-dimarco-is-joining-dancing-with.html">Nyle DiMarco Is Joining 'Dancing With The Stars'</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/03/nyle-dimarco-dancing-with-stars-promo.html">Nyle DiMarco 'Dancing With The Stars' Recap</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/03/et-news-dwts-nyle-dimarco-peta.html">ET News: 'DWTS' Nyle DiMarco & Peta Murgatroyd</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/03/dwts-contestant-nyle-dimarco.html">'DWTS' Contestant Nyle DiMarco Hospitalized</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/03/nyle-dimarco-amazes-on-dancing-with.html">Nyle DiMarco Amazes On 'Dancing With The Stars'</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/04/ag-bells-letter-about-nyle-dimarco.html">AG Bell's Letter About Nyle DiMarco Controversy</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/04/deaf-model-nyle-dimarco-hairstyle.html">Deaf Model Nyle DiMarco Hairstyle Tutorial</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/04/dwts-season-22-recap-clips-of-nyle.html">'DWTS' Season 22 Recap Clips of Nyle DiMarco</a><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2016/04/25-things-you-dont-know-about-nyle.html">25 Things You Don’t Know About Nyle DiMarco</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><b>Related America's Next Top Model:</b><br /><br /><a href="http://deafyouvideo.blogspot.com/2015/12/antm-cycle-22-finale-winner-is-nyle.html">ANTM Cycle 22 Finale Winner Is... 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Nyle DiMarco Wants To Empower Others Who Are Deaf

Deaf News: 'Dancing with the Stars' winner wants to empower others who are Deaf in the United States and the world. CNN -- When Nyle...

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