Christy Smith (born September 13, 1978) is an American activist and television personality. She is the first

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

contestant on the

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainmen ...

reality television series '' Survivor: The Amazon'' and co-founder of Discovering Deaf Worlds.

Early life

Christy Smith was born premature, weighing less than . As a baby, she pulled out her air tube and ended up losing 90 percent of her hearing. As such, she is skilled in

lip reading The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...

and

American Sign Language American Sign Language (ASL) is a natural language that serves as the predominant sign language of Deaf communities in the United States of America and most of Anglophone Canadians, Anglophone Canada. ASL is a complete and organized visual lang ...

. She resided in

Basalt, Colorado The Town of Basalt is a home rule municipality located in Eagle and Pitkin counties, Colorado, United States. The town population was 3,984 at the 2020 United States Census with 2,917 residing in Eagle County and 1,067 residing in Pitkin County ...

.DDW Co-Founder - Christy Smith
Retrieved November 13, 2016.

Education and career

Smith attended high school and college in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

She obtained a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four years ...

degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...

in sociology with a minor in criminology from

Gallaudet University Gallaudet University ( ) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. for the education of the deaf and hard of hearing. It was founded in 1864 as a grammar school for both deaf and blind children. It was the first sc ...

in 2000. After graduating from Gallaudet, she worked at Aspen Camp School for the Deaf as a guide. After competing on ''Survivor'', Smith created ''Christy's Kids: Challenge Yourself'', a television show that debuted on Rocky Mountain PBS in April 2005. In January 2007, Smith co-founded Discovering Deaf Worlds, an organization which uses world travel to increase deafness awareness.

''Survivor''

Smith is the first

contestant to appear on the

reality television series ''Survivor''. As a contestant on '' Survivor: The Amazon'', Smith shocked her tribe members on the first day when she announced her disability. She competed on ''Survivor'' to bring awareness of deaf culture and in the hope of bringing home the prize money. On Day 33 of the show, Smith was voted out in a 4-2 decision by

Jenna Morasca Jenna Morasca is an American actress, former swimsuit model, professional wrestler and American reality TV contestant who was the million-dollar grand prize winner of '' Survivor: The Amazon'' in 2003. In 2009, she worked for Total Nonstop Action ...

Heidi Strobel Colbert Michael Hamels (born December 27, 1983), nicknamed "Hollywood", is an American professional baseball pitcher who is a free agent. He has played in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Philadelphia Phillies (2006–2015), Texas Rangers ( ...

, Matthew von Ertfelda, and

Rob Cesternino Robert Kristopher Cesternino (born October 20, 1978) is an American reality television contestant and podcast host, known for his appearances on '' Survivor: The Amazon'' (2003) and '' Survivor: All-Stars'' (2004). In 2010, he launched ''Rob Has ...

. Smith came in sixth place and became the fourth member of the jury of seven that would ultimately vote for the winner of the show. In the end, Smith voted for Morasca to win the $1,000,000

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

grand prize.

References

External links

*
Christy Smith biography
for '' Survivor: The Amazon'' at

.com
Discovering Deaf Worlds
{{DEFAULTSORT:Smith, Christy 1978 births Deaf television personalities Living people People from Aspen, Colorado Survivor (American TV series) contestants People from Basalt, Colorado American deaf people