Tasha Ghouri’s dad shares heartfelt statement following ‘ableist’ abuse
The father of Love Island star Tasha Ghouri has spoken out in his daughter’s defence, slamming online haters for disregarding her disability.
Avid Love Island viewers have been tuning into the popular reality show night after night, all summer long, rooting for their favourite islanders and hating on the ones who have seemingly been getting on their last nerve.
One Islander who has been taking quite a lot of criticism from viewers this year would be 23-year-old model Tasha Ghouri, who in the first episode confessed to her fellow islanders that she has a hearing disability and was born deaf.
The Thirsk-native explained that she has a cochlear implant which is a small electronic device and a form of hearing aid which turns sounds into electronic signals, which in turn provide a hearing sensation by stimulating the auditory nerve.
However, as explained by Tasha’s father, Tarek Ghouri, many viewers don’t realise the effect Tasha's disability has on her emotional state while in the villa.
Last week, Tasha asked fellow Islander Andrew if he would be her boyfriend, taking their relationship to the next level. However, in the same episode Tasha was left in the bottom three, after hearing that the public had been voting to save their fellow Islanders, which led to her having another very emotional breakdown.
In a statement shared to social media over the weekend, Tarek said, “We talked about the possible negativity and if you think you are prepared for it you are not. Negativity is not what we do in this family so it is a bit of a shock but more so is the ableist comments like last night when someone described her as a ‘deaf whore’.”
Speaking about why Tasha wanted to go on Love Island, her dad said, “Tash wanted to do it to represent and show deaf kids, teens and adults that they have nothing to fear by embracing their deafness or hearing aids. It’s why hers is bright white!”
“It’s also why she is the ONLY Love Island contestant ever to publicly say she will donate half of any winnings to the deaf children's charity. A positive short that’s been left behind as news does. This was publicised the first few days of her going in the villa.”
“I applaud her and we will deal with the negativity. She lets nothing stop her,” Tarek commented, before going on to explain just how draining it is for Tasha to be on Love Island with a disability. “It’s mentally draining for her trying to compute what’s been said, lip reading people whose lips aren’t facing her or whose mouths are covered with bottles, who said what many are talking.”
“Staying involved in conversation when you can only hear robotic sounds in only one of your ears is mentally draining. This leads to tiredness and sometimes tears. It’s a pressured environment for all but she has an extra pressure no one seems to recognise apart from anyone who is deaf or hard of hearing.”
“Thank you to everyone who’s posted on this page with positive messages. Truly from the bottom of Tasha’s and our hearts. #bekind,” Tarek concluded.
Love Island continues on ITV 2 and Virgin Media Two this evening at 9pm.
