Rita Simons shared an incredible video of her deaf eldest twin daughter Maiya, 13, singing show tunes on stage to her Instagram account on Sunday.
The former EastEnders star, 42, admitted that she usually decides to keep her children’s lives private but decided to post the clip on social media because she’s a ‘proud mama’.
Rita’s daughter Maiya, 13, was diagnosed at six-months-old of being profoundly deaf in her right ear and limited hearing in her left ear.
Amazing: Rita Simons shared an incredible video of her deaf eldest twin daughter Maiya, 13, singing show tunes on stage to her Instagram account on Sunday
Maiya, who has a twin called Jaimee without any hearing impairments, underwent a cochlear implant operation aged six which enabled her to hear in both ears.
In the incredible video, the 13-year-old performed Spotlight from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, which Rita is currently starring in as Miss Hedge.
Rita captioned it: ‘I don’t normally put too many pics of my kids on social media but I am going against my rule this to show all you parents of deaf kids out there that #cochlearimplant CAN change your child’s life.
‘Maiya is almost profoundly deaf. Without her processor she hears nothing. She was implanted 6 yrs ago and this was her last night singing a song from the show I’m in right now #everybodystalkingaboutjamie #ProudMama.’
Mini-me: The former EastEnders star, 42, admitted that she usually decides to keep her children’s lives private but decided to post the clip on social media because she’s a ‘proud mama’
Incredible: In the incredible video, the 13-year-old performed Spotlight from Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, which Rita is currently starring in as Miss Hedge
Proud: Rita captioned it: ‘I don’t normally put too many pics of my kids on social media but I am going against my rule this to show all you parents of deaf kids out there that #cochlearimplant CAN change your child’s life…’
In 2012, when Maiya was just six-years-old, she underwent a cochlear implant operation, which involves a small hearing devices fitted under the skin behind the ear, otherwise she would go completely deaf.
The implants cannot restore normal hearing but they can give a deaf person a good representation of sounds, helping them understand speech.
Talking about the procedure before her daughter had it, Rita told Hello! Magazine: ‘The hostility we’ve encountered has been extraordinary. It comes mainly from people who firmly believe that deafness should be embraced rather than treated as a physical deficiency that should be corrected.
Diagnosis: Rita’s daughter Maiya, 13, was diagnosed at six-months-old of being profoundly deaf in her right ear and limited hearing in her left ear
Twins: Maiya, who has a twin called Jaimee without any hearing impairments, underwent a cochlear implant operation aged six which enabled her to hear in both ears (pictured together in a throwback snap)
‘I totally respect their point of view. But when a 19-year-old girl told me that I was an ‘abuser’ to let my child have a cochlear implant, I was horrified and deeply hurt.’
Rita admitted that she bawled her eyes out after doctors broke the news about Maiya’s hearing at six-months-old and she was fitted with a hearing aid at eight-months-old.
The star revealed that she had to accept that her ‘daughter is deaf’ but insisted that she would treat Maiya the exact same as her twin sister Jaimee and that they decided to get the cochlear implant to give her the ‘gift of sound’.
Brave: In 2012, when Maiya was just six-years-old, she underwent a cochlear implant operation, which involves a small hearing devices fitted under the skin behind the ear, otherwise she would go completely deaf (pictured in 2018)
She added: ‘We’ve brought Maiya up as a hearing child, and she attends the same mainstream school as her twin sister.’
Rita rose to fame as Roxy Mitchell on EastEnders until she was dramatically killed off on the New Year’s Day special in 2017.
She is married to Theo Silverston and they have twins Maiya and Jaimee, 13.
Smitten: Rita is married to Theo Silverston and they have twins Maiya and Jaimee, 13 (pictured 22 years ago)
