The Steven Whitworth Web Site

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Brief Bio of Steven

Steven is the web master, maintains and updates the Complete V.C. Andrews, the un-official web site of gothic horror novelist, V.C. Andrews, for her loyal readers.

Before becoming the web master for Complete V.C. Andrews, Steven worked on a web site, V.C. Andrews Discussions, where the fans can discuss about V.C. Andrews' works through the mailing list. He also helped the Complete V.C. Andrews creator, Jennifer Wagnon, gathering information for the site.

Steven was born in Waco, Texas, a small town in Hill Country. He and his parents lived in Hewitt which is about five to ten minutes south of Waco. He was born with a syndrome, Waardenburg Syndrome (sometimes spelled: Wardenburg or Wärdenburg).

Waardenburg Syndrome is a hereditary disorder characterized by facial abnormalities. The inner folds of the eyelids or the tear duct may be displaced, congenital nerve deafness may occur, and often abnormal pigmentation of the iris of the eye, the skin, and/or the hair may be present.

Steven has mild case of the syndrome, in spite of this, he has severe to profound mixed hearing loss. The mixed hearing loss is the combination of bone conduction hearing loss and sensori-neural hearing loss. He wears hearing aids, however, they don't help him to understand when a person who speak to him without his eyes on the speaker's lip. He got the syndrome from his father's father's mother's father, who was a Cajun fisherman with the surname: Duty. Steven is only person in family who is pre-lingual deaf.

His deafness was not found until he was two months old when Dad tried to wake Steven up by making loud noise one night. His parents debated about sending his son to state school for the deaf under the advisement of Dad's aunt and uncle. They decided not to send him, instead they agreed that his mother will work with Steven. Dad made that clear that he was against communicating through sign language. Momma trained Steven with at least 25 basic words to speak per week when he was two or three years old. He has only caught less than five words. It was frustrating for her. She went against her husband's wish to learn sign language. But Momma use the method called Total Communication which combined the sign language and spoken English at the same time, hoping her son will get them. He actually did. He caught more than twenty words a week after daily session with Momma. Later, he received advanced speech therapy from Momma and then a bunch of intern therapists at Baylor University before he turned six years old.

He started first grade at the regional day school for the deaf in Waco. The school was not mainstreamed (mixed with regular hearing classes with interpreters). As soon as before the program fell apart, his parents whisked Steven to Richardson, Texas where Dad found a job as a siding contractor. Steven enrolled a school with a sign language interpreter until Momma can find a school that housed deaf education program. She found one in Plano, Prairie Creek Elementary. Once he got in as a second grader, Momma was horrified that his son learned different sign language which she disapproved. Momma and Steven were only two people in family that knew Signed Exact English (S.E.E.) and that different sign language is not S.E.E. It is called Modified Signed English (M.S.E). It is a method for a singer to sign syllabuses per words, including prefixes, roots, and suffixes. S.E.E. signer signs word to word and most of the time, the hand shape was shaped for initial of the word. S.E.E. and M.S.E. are not languages. They are codes similar to Morse Code. They are codes because they never change. Momma yanked Steven out of the program when the school was dismissed for holidays. The family moved to Mesquite where a deaf education program use S.E.E. and is mainstreamed with regular classes.

Steven was exposed to American Sign Language (A.S.L.) when he was in fifth grade when few students transferred to Joe Lawrence Elementary from different schools that use A.S.L. as a primary sign language.

Steven graduated from North Mesquite High School in 1996 with Advanced High School Program diploma. The diploma includes two years of Latin and being in yearbook staff, Journalism, and Business Computer Applications.

At the present time, he is a college student at Eastfield College where he is studying A.S.L.

Click here to read to find out what he is interested in.

Click here to read his résumé.

His parents, Steve and Sharon, will celebrate their 24th anniversary in April. They have been through many ups and downs together, making their bond stronger.

Steve is a trucker for Summit-Simmons^® company, delivering Beauty Rest^® mattresses to hotels and retail stores in Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex. Sharon is a computerized forward unit clerk at United States Postal Services for the large area with zip code starts with 75***. It ranges from Sherman to Paris to Texarkana to Tyler to Palmer to Stephenville to Coppell then back to Sherman. She received more than 200 address change notifications everyday!

He has a young sister, Shannon, who is sixth grader at one of Mesquite's best elementary schools. She is in orchestra, playing viola. She enjoy taking horse-riding lessons she got for her birthday.

He resides in Mesquite, Texas, a part of busy metroplex of Dallas and Fort Worth with his family, two dogs, and a cat.