I was about 12 months old when my parents first discovered I was deaf in both ears. Unlike other children that age, I wasn’t responding to sounds, I wasn’t turning around if they spoke to me and I didn’t make the usual baby noises you expect at that stage, having nothing to model my speech on.
After various tests and consultations with audiologists in Oxford – some hours away from my hometown of Thirsk – they received the diagnosis and learned what options were available to me. Hearing aids were out of the question, because they amplify sounds rather than actually allow you to hear, and so I underwent cochlear implant surgery.
At the age of 15, I was offered a second implant, but at that point, I had grown more comfortable with my disability and loved that I had the option of taking it off and embracing both my deaf and hearing selves.
While I am grateful to be able to hear, I also really enjoy silence – it helps me sleep and, after taxing days of lip-reading and trying to communicate with others, it’s a welcome relief to switch off. Sometimes I will watch TV with just the subtitles and no sound, and it is pure bliss.
Communication was particularly difficult at school. While me and my parents learned British Sign Language (BSL) when I was younger, I was encouraged not to rely on it and instead focus on speech therapy. I spent my break times working on that instead of playing.
Beyond the challenges every child faces when learning new skills, topics and facts, I had to mould my learning around the hearing world. Teachers would often face the whiteboard when talking, which was a struggle as I often rely on lip-reading to understand; I would be sat at the back of the class, meaning it was hard to hear; and, likewise, when they were standing on the other side from my implant, it became really demanding to keep up. I would more often than not come home and fall asleep at the kitchen table from exhaustion.
It’s why I have campaigned with the Department for Education to get BSL on the national curriculum, and am delighted that it will be taught as an optional GCSE from September this year. It’s the first step in helping others like me who are hard of hearing or deaf feel accepted and included, and gives them a better chance of being able to learn and thrive in those vital years of education.
My work doesn’t stop there, though. It is estimated that 1 in 5 people (12 million) in the UK are deaf or hard of hearing, and while over half of those aged 55+ have hearing loss, there are at least 50,000 deaf children in the UK, per the 2023 Census. I believe that more needs to be done – not just to create more diversity and inclusion, but to help celebrate differences and provide equal opportunities.
When I was first approached to go on Love Island, that was my motivation. I didn’t necessarily want to be praised for being the “first-ever deaf contestant”, but it is important to me that we start normalising disabilities – not just those who are deaf. The dating element of the show particularly spoke to me, as I wanted to show that people like me can find love – they can be confident and they can be who they want to be without their disability defining them.
Likewise, when I got the call to go on Strictly it was a no-brainer – not just in terms of representation, but because it enabled me to harness one of my greatest passions: dance. Not only had I attended a dance conservatoire and trained professionally as a young adult, I really discovered who I was as a person because of it. You see, the dance community is so inclusive and accepting – you are not judged on appearance or what disability you have; you are just free to be creative.
Dancing with Aljaž was a dream. My favourite performances were to “Natural Woman” and “Someone You Love”, which was actually in honour of his daughter. Because I cannot always hear the words, I study the lyrics so I can get a real sense of what a song is about and draw on that emotion in my dancing. I also rely on the beat and vibrations for cues – I quite literally feel the music. “Natural Woman” was particularly poignant to me, as it’s about embracing who we are as women and is really empowering.
I also find it heartening that BSL has become more mainstream now – from signers going viral after Glastonbury sets, to Miss Rachel teaching toddlers BSL on her channel. Hearing aids and cochlear implants are also becoming more prominent in the fashion world – in fact, that Asos campaign? Yep, that was my ear.
It’s really important to take stock of how far we’ve come, of course. But for as long as I have a platform and am able to do so, I want to keep pushing for more. I want these discussions to continue and, more than anything, I want deaf people to feel like they are people beyond their disability. Because they are.
Tasha Ghouri is a model and dancer. She appeared on the eighth season of Love Island in 2022 and the most recent series of Strictly Come Dancing in 2024.
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