18-year-old student Chiara Longo writes about facing discrimination for hearing loss and what she wishes people knew.

I was only eight when I was diagnosed with a hearing loss. It wasn’t too serious, but the people around me made me feel like it was an insuperable problem, giving me the perception of not being able to overcome it at such an early age.

I remember opposing wearing my hearing aids because when I would come across advertisements about hearing aids on TV, there were only elderly people starring in them. So I thought only elderly people wore hearing aids. The lack of representation of young people with hearing loss made me feel out of place. I was just a kid, but I could already feel the pressure society was putting on me. And as I grew up I could feel that pressure even more. Children at school started asking me a lot of questions regarding my daily life with “bionic ears.” It made me feel like I was a super heroine, but at the same time it made me a little uncomfortable.

“I was only eight when I was diagnosed with a hearing loss. It wasn’t too serious, but the people around me made me feel like it was an insuperable problem.”

— Chiara Longo

Many times there would be only one student with hearing aids in a classroom where most of the students wore glasses. In those moments I would think, “why do many people have glasses, but no one wears hearing aids?” So, I reminded myself that I am as special as everyone else and have something powerful that others don’t have. I have always considered it to be my superpower since I was little. Wearing hearing aids made me become responsible at the age of eight since they needed to be handled carefully and I had gotten confident in dealing with them.

My loved ones taught me to cover my ears in public or to avoid ponytails, or people would stare at me and my hearing aids. Even though they meant well, it annoyed me. They were not normalizing the issue. As the only person with hearing loss in my class, I would get furtive glances or blatantly mean comments. I even felt like I had to justify myself by saying, “I’m not completely deaf!” People often harbor the prejudice that deaf and hearing impaired people are less intelligent, which is absolutely false.

However, I was a strong girl who refused to let others get me down. I embraced my difference and started to familiarize myself with hearing loss. I used the discrimination I experienced as motivation to become a fearless leader and an activist for gender equality, climate change and the rights of hearing impaired people.

“I’ve found that the more confident you are about yourself, the less you are willing to receive inappropriate and petty criticism from others.”

— Chiara Longo

At this point in my life, I have learned to be myself. I wear ponytails in public and if anyone ever asks me whether I have a hearing loss, I proudly say: “yes, I have bionic ears.” I’ve found that the more confident you are about yourself, the less you are willing to receive inappropriate and petty criticism from others.

Over 5% of the world’s population, or 430 million people, are affected by “disabling” hearing loss — including at least 34 million children worldwide. I wish more people were aware of the fact that hearing impaired people are just as everyone else: they are not dumb or stupid. Sometimes people tell me that all I need to do is turn up the volume of my hearing aids, which is not always true — hearing aids do not make hearing go back to normal.

Kids need to be able to relate to people with different health conditions and it’s essential to teach them not to be afraid of the diverse or atypical. Children are not intrinsically mean; they are the result of a society with rooted cultural beliefs that are difficult to dismantle but not impossible. All we need to do is embrace our differences and understand that there’s a place for everyone in this world.