Georgia Meacham has spent over a decade hiding her deafness while navigating her career as a model and actress.
For Deaf Awareness Week, she told her 70,000 followers on Instagram that she wears two hearing aids, and has now spoken about her experience on Good Morning Britain.
‘Chances are, most of you reading this would have no idea I was born moderately deaf in both ears and have worn hearing aids since 17 months old,’ she wrote.
‘For the past decade, I’ve kept these amazing devices hidden, yet without them, I would struggle immensely. I’ve coped so well with all life’s challenges which I guess has made it somewhat harder to speak about.’
Georgia added that keeping the secret has been ‘mentally draining’. In order to keep the information to herself she’s been wearing her hair down to cover the devices that help her to hear, lipreading, refraining from requesting subtitles, and not asking friends to make adjustments, such as sitting in quieter areas of restaurants.
Part of her inspiration for speaking out was watching Tasha Ghouri on Love Island. She made history as the first deaf contest on the ITV dating show in 2022 and has since used her platform to raise awareness of the condition.
‘She was so confident and she was talking about it so positively, and growing up, I was always the only one at school with hearing aids, I was always the only one with a hearing aid at university with hearing aids,’ she explained on Good Morning Britain.
‘I’ve never had a friend with hearing aids, or deaf. I’ve never been a part of that community.’
Georgia, 32, became emotional after they secretly arranged for Tasha, 25, to surprise her live on the show.
‘God, I’m getting emotional. You’ve done so much for me,’ she shared.
Tasha told Georgia: ‘Keep doing what you’re doing because it’s fabulous. It’s so nice to see that you are now embracing you. It’s beautiful and you’re smashing it.’
Hosts Susanna Reid and Ed Balls praised both women for being so open, before Susanna, 53, asked Tasha how it feels to inspire people like Georgia.
‘It’s honestly heartwarming. I don’t think I realised how much my voice matters to people,’ she responded.
Georgia signed a modelling contract at 18 working for brands including Stella McCartney, Karen Millen and Ted Baker, and appearing in videos for Tinie Tempah, Cheryl and One Direction. She is credited with roles in Bridget Jones’s Baby, The Windsors, Wonder Woman 1984, and Fast & Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw – she told The Sun, she had to lipread cues to get through the jobs.
‘I was just in complete denial, really. I had to guess what was being said on set all the time,’ she explained.
She didn’t always feel the need to hide her deafness and spoke about feeling so confident at school that she even wore pink, sparkly hearing aids. However, when starting at Queen Mary University of London in 2011 she felt embarrassed.
‘I didn’t know how to discuss it with new people. I felt like I’d disassociated myself with being deaf,’ she recalled.
Last year, Georgia began therapy and plans to start British Sign Language classes. She’s now feeling positive about her future and is determined to join her idols Tasha, and Rose Ayling-Ellis in making change.
‘I feel really determined now – to use this position to speak about deaf representation in my industries,’ she stated.
‘I feel so excited to start this new chapter as someone who embraces my disability.’
Good Morning Britain airs weekdays from 6.30am on ITV1 and ITVX.
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