Faces Behind the Screen: Jessica Flores

I am the first Deaf person in my family. When I was in the first grade my parents found out that I had a hearing loss. But we have no idea what might have caused it. It was just something that sort of happened.

It’s hard to remember exactly how much sound I could/couldn’t hear back then. But from what I know, when I was younger, I had a mild hearing loss. Then over time, my hearing just kept dropping. Now I have a severe/profound-ish hearing loss.

I grew up being the only Deaf person I really knew so I didn’t have any Deaf/HoH role models around me to relate to. Because of that, for years I felt very hopeless, alone, and isolated. I didn’t have anyone to connect with as a deaf person.

So whenever I get comments/messages from other Deaf/HoH people telling me they can relate to my content… It’s hands down one of the best feelings in the world.

There are so many crazy myths [about Deaf people] out there. I think my top “favorite” one is, “All Deaf people can lip-read.”

I remember when I first was asked if all Deaf people could do that and I was like, “Uhmm… Can you even lip-read? Oh, you can’t? Because it’s hard right?”

I think it’s funny how easy some people think lip reading is until they’ve actually tried it themselves. Then after they’ve tried it they are like, “Oh wow, this is WAY harder than I thought.”

You can keep up with Jessica on YouTube. Visit her channel, called Jessica Flores, to subscribe and catch all her amazing content.