Survivor tells of time in Amazon

In October of 2003, Christy Smith sat at tribal council in the

middle of the Amazon. She awaited votes to reveal who would be

voted off “Survivor 6: The Amazon.”

She had lasted 33 days on the reality show and as her name was

repeatedly called, she became increasingly more upset.

Monday night Smith, a native of Aspen, signed with an

interpreter, to over 150 people about her experience on “Survivor”

in the east ballroom of the Lory Student Center as the keynote

speaker for Disability Awareness Days.

Being born deaf and three months premature, Smith’s parents

called her a survivor baby.

“I kind of started my life as a survivor,’ she said.

Her family never learned to sign and Smith grew up in what she

called the hearing world.

“I didn’t have an interpreter, I didn’t have any sign language

at all,” she said. “I had to learn how to speak.”

Smith went to public school in Aspen and in 11th grade went to a

deaf school, where she had to learn sign language. She went on to

Galaudet University, a college for deaf people, majoring in

sociology and criminal justice.

Smith went on an outward-bound trip to Alaska her senior year,

and Costa Rica after graduation.

Smith then returned to Aspen in 2002 to work in a camp for

hearing and hearing impaired children, where she led groups of

children with interpreters and signing and groups without those

tools.

Her father, being a big “Survivor” fan, urged her to apply for

season six as a Father’s Day present. She had never heard of the

show, but applied anyway.

She got a callback, and after several interviews was selected as

one of 16 people for the sixth season of the reality show.

“I thought ‘where is my deaf role model?'” Smith said. “And then

I thought maybe I could be the deaf role model, they never had one

that had been on ‘Survivor’ before.”

Smith joined the “Survivor” cast and said without an

interpreter, she felt she couldn’t connect with the other

people.

“I don’t think I really had a bond with any of these people,”

she said. “I was trying to read lips but I only got what was going

on 30 percent of the time.”

When she left the show she was upset, feeling betrayed for being

an honest person.

“I was so mad, I thought I was an honest girl and having people

lie, backstab and cut me down was a bad experience.”

She kept in contact with the show’s psychologist for four months

and has since recovered from all injuries, both physical and

emotional.

She will see her “Survivor” co-stars in New York this May, and

said she is excited to visit the cast with an interpreter.

Smith is planning to start a children’s television show titled

“Christy’s Kids.” She hopes the show will create awareness about

the deaf people.