ignaaaa 💗💗 you don’t know how nice it is to find someone who gets it. i feel like i’m looking into a mirror or something lmao so many of my own thoughts and feelings and experiences with microtia reflected back at me with this and i’ve never really had that before? god, even that acting thing. growing up, no one ever told me i couldn’t, but as a little kid i never had that phase everyone else had where i wanted to be an actor. even though i loved being in like, dumb school plays and having big parts and presenting stuff and whatnot. but i knew that if i grew up and tried to do acting, i’d never be able to play a character with normal looking ears. and since literally every character has “normal” years, i’d never be able to act. it was just something i knew wouldn’t ever be a possibility for me, and when you started telling your story my jaw kinda dropped with how similar it was. and that thing about looking online and only finding parenting resources and before/after pics???? and not any kickass confident ppl living with microtia and loving how their ears looked? yeah. even if no one tells you your ears are ugly or need to be fixed, that’s 100% the message you take to heart when you grow up with zero representation. i’m okay with my ear, but subtle stuff like that has definitely influenced me negatively in ways i’m not even aware of a lot of the time. thanks again for the video and the positive representation of this condition 💓
I know exactly how you feel!! It’s so amazing to find people who get it and have been through similar things, it makes me genuinely so happy every time you or anyone else interacts with my videos and shares their story. Media can be so empowering, so I’m happy that together we can identify this problem with the message society sends and try to turn things around together. Thank you so much for your support and for sharing your perspective, it means the world to me😭❤️❤️
some stuff i like about having microtia: - the thing you mentioned, only having to plug one ear - it’s way more comfortable to sleep on the microtia side than the one with the more normal ear - it’s kinda cute. something interesting that makes me stand out appearance-wise, like having a piercing or a birthmark or something :) - i use a hearing aid (a bone anchored one that snaps into a metal implant in my skull and uses bone conduction to improve my hearing) and in addition to having the option to turn it off if things get too loud, i can stream music and sound directly to it from my phone. it’s so easy and i never have to carry earbuds or anything around! - i always sleep through thunderstorms/loud noises at night because i can’t hear them - usually teachers, even ones with strict seating plans, have let me choose my own desk in school so i can angle my regular ear + hearing aid towards where they stand. no constantly rearranging desk plans! - as a little kid, other kids would always ask me about it bc they were curious and you know kids, they just ask whatever questions pop into their heads. so i had to learn to be able to express myself, explain microtia, the surgery i had to wear my hearing aid, etc, from an early age. i feel like this actually made me more confident in myself and my ability to present ideas and teach and whatnot. (common question i got: “does the ear hurt?” lol i had to reassure a lot of kids that no i wasn’t in any pain) - what you mentioned about being able to better empathize with others who have disabilities or differences
Oh my god I LOVE your list!!!! And it’s so crazy how much we can relate, though I don’t have the hearing aid I do also get to enjoy these “perks”😁! Another one is being able to choose where to sit when hanging out with friends and family, which is hella comfortable hehehe
on language used to describe my microtia- your take was really interesting, and not one i’d given much thought to before! it helps get rid of those negative connotations of other words used to describe it, which definitely would have a subtle influence on a person growing up. for me, personally, i feel comfortable calling it a defect or malformation, as well as just a condition. i tend to be somewhat self deprecating about it i guess?? i’m kinda blunt when explaining it to others, like i’ve compared my microtia ear to a mashed up cabbage or made jokes about it not having a hole. i find that if i’m able to make fun of it myself, and show others i’m confident about it, i can take away any power anyone else has to judge how it looks or make me feel insecure. maybe this approach isn’t the healthiest, but idk. i know that i like my ear, and wouldn’t change it, and it is what it is. so i guess i’ve just gone with that negative sounding medical language i’ve seen used, and i’m okay with that. but to each their own, and your use of “birth condition” instead of defect really normalizes it, and it makes me happy to see it described that way :) also my parents always used to call it my little ear when i was a kid! never had an issue with it but i’ve moved away from it now. when i was like 6 or so i had this huge obsession with fairies, and since a lot of fairies were drawn with pointy ears, and my tiny microtia ear was formed with a kind of pointed tip, i was convinced it had something to do with that lol
That’s definitely a valid take on it as well! I use humor a bunch but I don’t really like the words “malformation” or “defect” though I definitely like the idea of taking power away from the negative connotations of the word! And yeah growing up I didn’t mind the little ear thing, but now that I’m older I see that my mom started to use it as a way to avoid calling things for what they were, so I started being more straightforward about it. Thank you so much for your comment, it’s super interesting to see your take on the topic!!❤️❤️
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ignaaaa 💗💗 you don’t know how nice it is to find someone who gets it. i feel like i’m looking into a mirror or something lmao so many of my own thoughts and feelings and experiences with microtia reflected back at me with this and i’ve never really had that before? god, even that acting thing. growing up, no one ever told me i couldn’t, but as a little kid i never had that phase everyone else had where i wanted to be an actor. even though i loved being in like, dumb school plays and having big parts and presenting stuff and whatnot. but i knew that if i grew up and tried to do acting, i’d never be able to play a character with normal looking ears. and since literally every character has “normal” years, i’d never be able to act. it was just something i knew wouldn’t ever be a possibility for me, and when you started telling your story my jaw kinda dropped with how similar it was. and that thing about looking online and only finding parenting resources and before/after pics???? and not any kickass confident ppl living with microtia and loving how their ears looked? yeah. even if no one tells you your ears are ugly or need to be fixed, that’s 100% the message you take to heart when you grow up with zero representation. i’m okay with my ear, but subtle stuff like that has definitely influenced me negatively in ways i’m not even aware of a lot of the time. thanks again for the video and the positive representation of this condition 💓
I know exactly how you feel!! It’s so amazing to find people who get it and have been through similar things, it makes me genuinely so happy every time you or anyone else interacts with my videos and shares their story. Media can be so empowering, so I’m happy that together we can identify this problem with the message society sends and try to turn things around together. Thank you so much for your support and for sharing your perspective, it means the world to me😭❤️❤️
some stuff i like about having microtia:
- the thing you mentioned, only having to plug one ear
- it’s way more comfortable to sleep on the microtia side than the one with the more normal ear
- it’s kinda cute. something interesting that makes me stand out appearance-wise, like having a piercing or a birthmark or something :)
- i use a hearing aid (a bone anchored one that snaps into a metal implant in my skull and uses bone conduction to improve my hearing) and in addition to having the option to turn it off if things get too loud, i can stream music and sound directly to it from my phone. it’s so easy and i never have to carry earbuds or anything around!
- i always sleep through thunderstorms/loud noises at night because i can’t hear them
- usually teachers, even ones with strict seating plans, have let me choose my own desk in school so i can angle my regular ear + hearing aid towards where they stand. no constantly rearranging desk plans!
- as a little kid, other kids would always ask me about it bc they were curious and you know kids, they just ask whatever questions pop into their heads. so i had to learn to be able to express myself, explain microtia, the surgery i had to wear my hearing aid, etc, from an early age. i feel like this actually made me more confident in myself and my ability to present ideas and teach and whatnot. (common question i got: “does the ear hurt?” lol i had to reassure a lot of kids that no i wasn’t in any pain)
- what you mentioned about being able to better empathize with others who have disabilities or differences
Oh my god I LOVE your list!!!! And it’s so crazy how much we can relate, though I don’t have the hearing aid I do also get to enjoy these “perks”😁! Another one is being able to choose where to sit when hanging out with friends and family, which is hella comfortable hehehe
on language used to describe my microtia- your take was really interesting, and not one i’d given much thought to before! it helps get rid of those negative connotations of other words used to describe it, which definitely would have a subtle influence on a person growing up. for me, personally, i feel comfortable calling it a defect or malformation, as well as just a condition. i tend to be somewhat self deprecating about it i guess?? i’m kinda blunt when explaining it to others, like i’ve compared my microtia ear to a mashed up cabbage or made jokes about it not having a hole. i find that if i’m able to make fun of it myself, and show others i’m confident about it, i can take away any power anyone else has to judge how it looks or make me feel insecure. maybe this approach isn’t the healthiest, but idk. i know that i like my ear, and wouldn’t change it, and it is what it is. so i guess i’ve just gone with that negative sounding medical language i’ve seen used, and i’m okay with that. but to each their own, and your use of “birth condition” instead of defect really normalizes it, and it makes me happy to see it described that way :) also my parents always used to call it my little ear when i was a kid! never had an issue with it but i’ve moved away from it now. when i was like 6 or so i had this huge obsession with fairies, and since a lot of fairies were drawn with pointy ears, and my tiny microtia ear was formed with a kind of pointed tip, i was convinced it had something to do with that lol
That’s definitely a valid take on it as well! I use humor a bunch but I don’t really like the words “malformation” or “defect” though I definitely like the idea of taking power away from the negative connotations of the word! And yeah growing up I didn’t mind the little ear thing, but now that I’m older I see that my mom started to use it as a way to avoid calling things for what they were, so I started being more straightforward about it. Thank you so much for your comment, it’s super interesting to see your take on the topic!!❤️❤️