Vidisha Baliyan


Vidisha Baliyan is an Indian female deaf model, beauty pageant winner and a retired tennis player. She has represented India at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics and also represented India at the 2019 Miss & Mister Deaf World contest. On 19 July 2019, she won the Miss Deaf World Contest and became the first ever Indian to be crowned as a Miss Deaf World.

Early life

Vidisha was born on 21 August 1997 and was diagnosed with partial hearing impairment at birth. Her parents refused to send her to special school despite medical advice. She attended the MN Public School in Muzaffarnagar for her primary education. She faced discrimination from the other students due to her deafness. Currently, she is pursuing B.P.Ed. from Noida College of Physical Education located in Dhoom Manikpur.

Deaflympic career

She pursued her career through playing tennis at national level. She most notably claimed two silver medals at the 2016 National Games before being called up to take part at the 2017 Summer Deaflympics, her first Deaflympic event. She competed in women's singles and doubles events at the 2017 Deaflympics. She was placed fifth in the women's doubles event. It is reported that Vidisha decided to retire from playing tennis citing severe back injuries following the 2017 Summer Deaflympics.

Modelling career

Vidisha Baliyan decided to take part in Miss Deaf India contest following her retirement from tennis. She was reported to have had training sessions in Greater Noida for over a year to participate at Miss Deaf India 2019. She eventually won the Miss Deaf India 2019 contest which was held in Assam, Guwahati in February 2019. After emerging as Miss Deaf India, she qualified to take part in the Miss Deaf World 2019 contest and headed to South Africa. She also received the assistance from Wheeling Happiness Foundation which is run by 2016 Summer Paralympics silver medalist Deepa Malik.
She was one of the 11 contestants to have participated in the Miss Deaf World contest and was crowned as Miss Deaf World for the year 2019. Vidisha went onto become the first Indian to win the Miss Deaf World 2019.

Achievements

She is the first Indian woman to win the title of Miss Deaf World in 2019. A great motivational speaker and expert in many fields, including Dancing, Tennis and Fashion. Brand Ambassador of Women Empowerment in Arsh Kanya Gurukul. She is also the brand ambassador of Phonak Nadia. Her list of achievements and accolades talks in length about her ambitious personality.

Honors

She has delivered many talks at the events organised by TED Community. Invited to speak about her life at many events to inspire thousands of people. Apart from these talks, she has been to many events as the chief guest. She was a guest of honour at Miss Teen India Universe 2020.