News
Abigail Heringer Slams Trolls for Making Fun of Her Deaf Accent and Hearing Disability
Abigail Heringer is clapping back at trolls who made fun of her deaf accent, indirectly targeting her hearing disability.It all started after The…
Abigail Heringer is clapping back at trolls who made fun of her deaf accent, indirectly targeting her hearing disability.
It all started after The Bachelor contestant posted a video on her TikTok handle, where some users dragged Heringer, making fun of hearing loss and deaf accent. One of the mean comments on her TikTok post included, “she can’t even talk.”
At first, Heringer didn’t give any response to the haters, but after some time, she didn’t hold back. She took to her Instagram stories to slam the haters. She posted a picture of her TikTok post’s comment section and wrote a lengthy caption.
She wrote, “One of my TikTok videos is getting pushed out as an ad. So it’s going on people’s for you pages that don’t follow me and don’t know that I’m deaf. In the video, I mispronounced some words (ironically not the brand name, which everyone thinks I did, lol).”
“And nearly all these comments are making fun of the way I talk, asking if I’m uneducated, stupid, etc.” She continued by writing that she only wanted to share this because she believes it’s essential to educate people, especially regarding disabilities.
Heringer added that she hopes all the hate comments she has received on her TikTok video came from ignorance and not from people who are being mean so that they can look cool on social media. Her statement read:
“I just wanted to share this interaction because this is why I believe it’s so important in educating ourselves and others, especially when it comes to disabilities. All the hateful comments, I hope, come from ignorance and not the people being shitty for the heck of it.”
“I can’t believe the internet is stooping to the point where we make fun of how people speak, regardless of if they have a disability or not,” she added to her statement.
The former Bachelor in Paradise contestant concluded her Instagram story by mentioning that she tries to be optimistic about her hearing disability most of the time and also admitted that she doesn’t share as often about her disability as she should.
Her ending statement read, “I try and be positive on here about my disability, but this is one of the realities of living with one that I don’t share too often, and despite doing what you can to educate others – people will still miss the mark sometimes. Sigh. Rant Over.”
Abigail Heringer slams trolls that made fun of her hearing disability (Photo: Instagram)
After Heringer addressed the trolls, a fan took a screenshot of her Instagram story and posted it on The Bachelor‘s fan subreddit. In the comments of the Reddit post, many Redditors chimed in support of Heringer.
For instance, one Reddit user wrote, “As a deaf woman myself, I love this lady so much.” At the same time, another wrote, “Abigail is *quite literally* the sweetest woman to ever appear on The Bachelor. This makes me really angry that anyone would criticize her for anything.”
This isn’t the first time Heringer has opened up about her hearing loss. While the previous times weren’t directed at trolls, the reality TV star has opened up about her struggles, what caused her hearing loss, and more in her social media posts and interviews.
During one of the episodes of her weekly ‘Hear Me Out’ TikTok series in June 2023, Heringer mentioned that she and her older sister have hearing loss due to Connexin 26, a mutation that is the most common cause of profound hearing loss.
Abigail Heringer wearing a cochlear hearing implant (Photo: Instagram)
“While my mom and biological dad were hearing, they both carried this recessive gene. With this recessive gene, there was a one in four chance of Rachel and I being born deaf. And the odds just happened to work that way twice in a row,” Heringer added to her statement.
The 28-year-old internet personality has been wearing a cochlear hearing implant – since she was two and a half years old. In another interview, she mentioned that she underwent surgery to get a cochlear implant when she was two and a half years old.
As for her deaf accent, Heringer – who recently got engaged to boyfriend Noah Erb after over two years of dating – explained it during one of her ‘Get Ready With Me’ or ‘GRWM’ segments of her ‘Hear Me Out’ TikTok series.
She stated, “A lot of deaf people have what’s called a deaf accent. So some notice it when I have my C.I., cochlear implant, processor on but it’s definitely more noticeable when my processor is off.” After saying that, she took out her C.I. as she curled her hair.
She continued, “So the reason that my voice sounds different, or my deaf accent comes out more when my processor’s off, is due to something called the auditory feedback loop. It happens when you speak.”
Heringer further explained that people can listen to themselves and make corrections if something sounds wrong. “So when I don’t have my processor on, like right now, I’m not able to listen and make those corrections,” she added.
“I feel like my deaf accent sounds, like, words being slurred at the end,” she said. She concluded her statement by stating that due to her deaf accent, her voice gets a little bit deeper, and she talks a little louder than usual.