In 2022, Tasha Ghouri, 25, who had a cochlear implant fitted when she was five, became Love Island ’s first deaf contestant.
Since the series ended, she has been continuing to raise awareness of deafness and has started a podcast called Superpowers with Tasha. She also makes TikToks where she explains different aspects about cochlear implants.
In an exclusive interview with OK! to mark International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December, she tells us about finding love and how her boyfriend Andrew Le Page, who she met on Love Island, supports her with her disability…
"Finding Andrew [Le Page] was amazing. It’s so special that he’s so involved with me and my deafness. He understands when I need a break and, if I need to have my implant out for the whole morning, he completely gets it. It’s so important to have that.
He surprised me by getting a tattoo that reads “I love you” in sign language. I melted inside when he showed me. All I’ve ever wanted is to have that support and he went the extra mile.
When Love Island asked me to go on the show I was in complete shock. I didn’t think they’d have someone with a cochlear implant. Growing up, I didn’t feel represented on TV except when Rose Ayling-Ellis went on Strictly Come Dancing [in 2021].
That’s when I started to see the walls break down. One big misconception about having a cochlear implant is that it’s an “easy” fix. That’s 100% not true.
It doesn’t fix my ears and it doesn’t fix my hearing. It’s like having a robot device that gives me that hearing. There’s a lot of side effects too. It can be so draining having to lip read and in noisy environments I get bad migraines.
I get a lot of concentration fatigue and I’ll be so tired that I need to take two or three days to recharge. Even in the Love Island villa, I was tired every day and producers would let me have 30-minute naps.
Unfortunately, while the show was on there were a lot of ableist comments posted about me. It could’ve really affected my mental health, but I decided to use it as an educational opportunity.
I started my podcast Superpowers With Tasha and made TikTok videos where I explained different things about cochlear implants and people started to change their opinions.
"In the future I’d love to see more representation of all communities, especially in dating shows. My dream would be to host a dating show where it’s completely inclusive and everyone can be who they want to be."
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