When Mia le Roux became the first deaf winner of Miss South Africa, she didn’t simply take home a crown — she won a public platform and the power to speak out about inclusivity and empowerment for people with disabilities in South Africa and beyond.
But it has not been easy for the 28-year-old Cape Town based marketing manager.
Le Roux, who was crowned in August, made world headlines last month when she withdrew from the Miss Universe pageant at the last moment as it was unfolding in Mexico.
“There wasn’t actually a choice involved. It’s a fact that it would have been extremely unsafe for me to go ahead, and it would have put other people in danger too. The whole team realised that I needed to just withdraw,” she told the Sunday Times last week, ahead of an end-of-year break with her family in Oudtshoorn to relax and recharge for the new year.
Le Roux’s sudden withdrawal was the result of her deafness and the conditions it can cause.
“I developed bad vertigo that morning and had fallen three times. By the evening it got a lot worse and eventually I couldn’t walk in a straight line by myself without help. We realised I wasn’t going to manage to walk the ramp,” she said.
Le Roux has been deaf since birth. But while being Miss South Africa has come with complications, she describes the experience as ultimately good, a lot of hard work and a time for her and the pageant team to “just learn ways of doing things differently”.
“It’s actually been amazing, and a very interesting experience. I think some of the other Miss South Africas have battled with being objectified, and here I come along and I’m Mia with my own story and I’m seen as someone beyond Miss South Africa and people look at me for my individuality,” she said.
Before winning the pageant, Le Roux was living in a small flat in Cape Town, struggling to build her career as a marketing manager for a small start-up, earning barely enough to get by.
After winning prize money that serves as a decent salary throughout her reign, she moved to Johannesburg where “I don’t have to stress about having enough and I live in a beautiful, secure apartment and can even afford my own dog” she said, referring to a dappled dachshund, Kingsley, who became hers this week.
She believes her role as Miss South Africa has stimulated the national conversation around inclusivity, and given her a voice and power she would not otherwise have had.
I want to educate C-suite executives and academics on how to make inclusive spaces where differently-abled people can move with confidence
— Miss SA Mia le Roux
“I’ve got a lot of exciting projects planned for next year and things I want to do. When I give up the crown, I want to have won the fight for captions on TV news bulletins that will allow deaf people to finally know what’s going on.
“I want to educate C-suite executives and academics on how to make inclusive spaces where differently-abled people can move with confidence.”
Le Roux, who has cochlear implants that allow her some level of hearing, is unable to describe how her ability to hear or experience the world differs from that of a person with normal hearing. It's “just different and something that I work around”.
She says many of the standard Miss South Africa duties have had to be adapted and changed to enable her to carry them out, and she’s refusing to be excluded from anything.
“I’m learning the art of public speaking, and when it comes to things like press briefings, instead of opening the floor to general questions that can become overwhelming and confusing because I can’t tell where the sound is coming from, I just do one-on-ones. And interviews like this, I manage on Zoom so I can see the person and lip read and see their facial expressions and body language.”
While her time as Miss South Africa has so far been “hard work and busy and can sometimes get a bit crazy”, Le Roux says she is thankful for the peace and quiet her deafness allows when, in times she can be alone, she takes off her cochlear implant device and sinks into complete silence.
“It can be lonely, but you also learn to just be your own best friend.”
As she prepares for the next part of her Miss South Africa journey, which starts on January 6, Le Roux intends to inspire a global audience. Her message is clear: beauty and strength come in many forms, and everyone deserves a seat at the table.
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