“There Was A Time I Never Wanted Anyone Online to Hear My Voice,” Mia Le Roux
“There Was A Time I Never Wanted Anyone Online to Hear My Voice,” Mia Le Roux. Mia Le Roux‘s recent updates are all about raising awareness through her lived experiences. The Miss South Africa 2024 has impaired hearing, but this has never stopped her from reaching her full potential.
A few days ago, the beauty queen opened up about some of the highs and lows she encountered during her reign as Miss SA. Some of those include withdrawing from the Miss Universe 2024 competition, after suffering severe vertigo, a few days before the finale. Since deafness affects balance, her vertigo got so intense that she couldn’t even stand without support. Mia thus couldn’t go ahead with the competition.
Mia has come back with another post to speak about her life as a person with impaired hearing.
“There was a time I never wanted anyone online to hear my voice. I did a lot of inner work and decided that the only way people will get used to my accent, is by being exposed to it,” Mia said.
She has received different feedback from how her voice sounds when she speaks. One person even said, Mia shouldn’t do voice overs when she does her videos. However, her supportive mother has always encouraged her, stating that her voice isn’t really bad. Despite not feeling confident sometimes, Mia still gets up and does what needs to be done as a public speaker.
Although I remember an ambiguous comment that I don’t need to do voiceovers over my videos. A comment I did not fully understand the intent behind it. Were they trying to say that my voice is bad in a nice way? And still to this day it sometimes will just itch me out of nowhere. A comment I always remember with a sense of cringe when I get requested to do a voiceover. And this is one of many ambiguous comments.
I don’t know what everyone else hears when I speak. My mom has lovingly told me that it’s really not bad, that I just don’t necessarily always have the right tone and volume control. I could live with that. But every time I speak online or to the public it always feels like a little wild trust game. And people are friendly most of the time, especially to my face.
Some days I am confused by ambiguous comments surrounding my voice. But then I always come to the same conclusion, the only way others will get used to it, is if I use it. I want to show it is okay to sound different.
I was never angry. I was confused. I was navigating something new as this really became a thing during my reign with many hurtful comments online as well as many ambiguous comments to my face.
Visibility is uncomfortable sometimes.
But exposure creates normalization.
And representation doesn’t happen in silence.
Some days I just want to hide behind my pillow. But most days I choose to be heard, because on days like this I am reminded that the same God who created this universe also created me. 🤍,” she added.
