Whatever Happened To Nyle DiMarco, America's Next Top Model's First Deaf Winner?

In April 2022, DiMarco released a memoir titled "Deaf Utopia: A Memoir and a Love Letter to a Way of Life." The book includes details about DiMarco's childhood struggles, as well as his journey on "America's Next Top Model," which wasn't entirely positive. As noted by theNew York Times, the show neglected to arrange

In April 2022, DiMarco released a memoir titled "Deaf Utopia: A Memoir — and a Love Letter to a Way of Life." The book includes details about DiMarco's childhood struggles, as well as his journey on "America's Next Top Model," which wasn't entirely positive. As noted by the New York Times, the show neglected to arrange for a sign language interpreter to be present. This created massive difficulties for DiMarco, as it left him without the resources to fairly participate in a challenge modeling with war veterans. The show's editing — which showed DiMarco in tears — made it look like he was emotional over bonding with the veterans. However, DiMarco wrote, "I felt more rage boiling up in me — the same fire that burned in my mom's belly as she dealt with the teachers and administrators at my school when I was young."

DiMarco's activism efforts have also played a huge part in bringing awareness to certain limitations in the deaf community. In 2016, he founded the Nyle DiMarco Foundation, which created more opportunities for deaf children to acquire language skills, per NBC News. He took some inspiration from his estranged father, who was deaf and had little access to American Sign Language. In 2022, he told People, "I'd meet people who didn't have access to a proper education or language, and those barriers left them angry and bitter. I started to see a pattern in our community that I recognized from my own father."

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