Cochlear Implant User Mimi (and Her CI-User Sisters): A Candid (Yet Optimistic) Take On Their CI Exp

Earlier this year, a six-minute YouTube video created by 24-year-old Filipino cochlear implant (CI) user Joanna Camille Chio (known as Mimi) left a deep impression on me. In the video made for a webinar hosted by the International Federation of Hard of Hearing (IFHOH), she shared helpful perspectives we could have about CI, like how being upfront about her CI has helped her find kind people around her. Mimi’s humour and self-deprecating jokes made the video both uplifting and amusing. Mimi, who currently works as a Design Intern at a multinational digital marketing agency, has two sisters who are also CI users.

Three CI Users in the Chio Family

Mimi, the third child in the Chio family of six, is the second in the family to be diagnosed with profound hearing loss. The firstborn, a daughter, has normal hearing. The second child (Anchette) was the first in the family to be diagnosed with profound hearing loss. Then came Mimi and Kim, who were also similarly diagnosed as a kid.

The cochlear implant was largely unheard of in the Philippines when the Chio sisters were diagnosed with profound hearing loss in the mid-1990s. The Chio parents sought high and low, including making a trip to Hong Kong to check out a costly hearing aid, before learning that CI was available in Manila, the capital of the Philippines. Mimi and her two sisters underwent their CI surgeries around age 2 and 3 respectively.

Getting Prepared for Mainstream Schools

Following their respective CI surgeries in the span of six years, Mimi and her sisters attended five years of intensive speech therapy. This set them up for successful transitions into mainstream schools from Grade 1. Their parents made it a point to keep the school principal and teachers informed about their CI and the accommodations they would need.

Mimi picked up the habit of keeping the people around her informed about her CI and carried it with her to university. She made sure all her lecturers and friends were informed about her CI at Ateneo de Manila University (one of the top three universities in the Philippines), where she pursued a bachelor’s degree in Information Design. At each lecture or tutorial, she was given a front-row seat to make sure she could keep up with the classes.

Strong Family Support as the Backbone of Her CI Journey

As is the case with many CI users featured on past CI Project interviews, strong family support instils in Mimi proper perspectives of her CI. Having two sisters who are also CI users by her side made CI normal early on. Mimi’s mother was never embarrassed about her daughters’ CI. She would often encourage Mimi to speak to parents who are considering CI for their children. The experience has helped Mimi to understand fears and assumptions people may have about CI. That has equipped her to advocate for CI in a way that touches people’s hearts (as you could see in the six-minute YouTube video mentioned in the opening paragraph).

Not A Journey Without Struggles

When you see Mimi’s happy-go-lucky temperament, it is tempting to think that she experiences no struggles. Mimi struggles when it comes to group conversations. In a busy environment like a cafeteria, she would try her best to keep up with the conversations. But there are times when it is simply beyond her. Mimi noted that while requesting repetition or clarification is a way to go, it does take courage to do so. Because while people are generally understanding, it could sometimes feel pesky. It does take practice to get better and more comfortable at it.

Both Anchette and Kim (Mimi’s elder and younger sister who are also CI users) share that sentiment.

Anchette, an Advertising Arts graduate from the University of San Carlos in the Philippines, currently works with her mother to support the family’s business. She has had difficulty in acclimatising to languages other than English and certain speaking styles. This poses a problem because the people around her speak Cebuano and Tagalog apart from English. This means she misses the opportunity to make conversations and mingle with others freely and independently. She confessed that she would sometimes ponder how things might have been different if she were born hearing.

Kim, the youngest in the Chio family, currently pursues a bachelor’s degree in Restaurant Entrepreneurship at Ateneo de Manila University, where Mimi got her bachelor’s degree. Kim speaks fluently and even appeared on a student-produced cooking show (she ran through the viewers how to make Chicken N’ Waffles in the nine-minute show). But when in new environments, she would appear to be less extroverted.

Kim would be more cautious of what she says and would only talk when asked to. Oftentimes when conversations erupt in laughter, she is not sure what to make of it and resorts to smiling bitterly. She has found herself in such situations more often since Grade 8 when she transferred to a bigger school. Meeting new people more often also means higher chances of meeting people who may not be accommodating enough to take in her requests for repetition or lipreading.

Support System: The Practical Need of the HOH Today

Support system – that sums up what Mimi believes every hard of hearing person needs more of today. A strong support system within the family is instrumental to the shaping of the high-calibre young adult she is today. Earlier this year, she joined HOH groups like the International Federation of Hard of Hearing Young People (IFHOHYP). She intends to be more involved in groups like this and a voice of support to those who need it. 

Anchette and Kim echoed that. They pointed out that there is a lack of proper CI-related support networks, at least in the Philippines. Kim particularly suggested having events, locally and internationally, where hard-of-hearing people gather and meet. As we get to know each other, we could form support groups that we could count on for encouragement, advice, elevated perspectives of things.

P.S. Mimi’s creativity goes beyond her storytelling skills to her terrific illustration skills. An example: “This Is My Sister”, illustrated by Mimi and presented together with Kim to an audience of speech pathologists in 2018.

Mimi and her family

Screenshot of Mimi in the video made for the IFHOH webinar (mentioned in the opening paragraph of this blog post)

You could find more cochlear implant user stories here.

CI Project collects cochlear implant user stories. I’d like to invite you to join the private Facebook group. You’ll receive an update of each new story (about once a month) and will get to interact with the characters of each story there. I’m also looking for more cochlear implant user stories. I’d appreciate it if you could nominate a cochlear implant user (including yourself) for me to write a story about!