Georgia Meacham is a deaf actor, model and advocate. Through confidence and visibility, she’s challenging outdated beauty standards and encouraging young deaf people to not hide their deafness and instead celebrate who they are.
“I was born deaf in both ears and have worn two hearing aids since I was 18 months old. My hearing loss is moderate to severe.
At school, I wore my hair up, so my hearing aids were always visible. I had to embrace them – I had no choice. But when I went to university, I was in a new city meeting new people. I started to wonder if I’d enjoy life more by hiding them. And I think that’s where the shame and the challenges started to occur.
When I entered the modelling industry, I realised I could almost fit the beauty standard as I had the height but would have to remove my hearing aids. I’d take them off on set and just tried to lip-read.
One day, I got the confidence to tell a photographer that I wear hearing aids and asked if I could keep one in. He said, “Would you be able to take them out?” That was it, I shut down. For six more years, I didn’t tell anyone.
Last year, I decided that enough was enough. I started embracing my disability and adversity and realising that it’s not a limitation, it’s a strength of mine.
My advice to the younger deaf community would be, please don’t hide your deafness, you don’t need to fit in and never feel embarrassed to speak up for yourself.”
