Christine Balaguer – 2026 Ambassador

My name is Christine. I'm Deaf. I'm a model. I'm a content creator.

I'm an Ambassador for International Day for People with Disability.

Someone told me once, they wondered if I could be a model because I was deaf. 

But as long as you have confidence, it doesn't matter. You can model as well as other hearing people. And you can do the same things that they can do.

With modelling, I went to Hong Kong and Malaysia and Thailand, and I worked in all those places.

It wasn't easy for me. I always had to advocate for myself and teach people how to interact with me being a Deaf person.

I'm from the Philippines. 

My mum, she had a business at the fish market. And she went away one time, and I was left on my own. 

And I had to work out how to communicate with the hearing people. So, I just sort of figured it out on my own.

When I moved to Australia, it was so different. I learned American Sign Language growing up. But here it is a different language.

We use Auslan here. The alphabet is different and I didn't understand people. I'm still actually still getting better at it day by day.

[Text on screen: Do people ever make ignorant assumptions about you because you’re deaf?]

Oh yeah, there's a lot of rude things that people say.

Deaf people, oh, they're stupid or they don't know how to communicate.

A lot of people think that we are all the same. And we also have a variety of abilities amongst the whole community.

Inclusion means respect, being patient with me. 

If hearing people came up and they say, “How can I communicate with you?” Yeah, I say by writing or by text, and then they follow. And so that shows respect in of itself.

Growing up, I didn't really identify my deafness. But now I identify as being Deaf and I'm proud of it.

It's beautiful to use sign language and it's beautiful who I am.

We must open the doors to everybody so we all can be included and be successful, but we all are equal.