Dessidre Fleming hails from a middle class family of Patna but now calls Delhi her home after living here for more than 15 years and securing a decent job in the city. She was born with deformity of hearing named ‘microtia’, where a person can only hear from one ear, due to which she faced discrimination and rejection from her own family and the society.

     Dessidre Fleming had dreams and aspirations to live and succeed. Her struggle and story  provides self-love motivation and tells to change your life by positive thinking and mind power. She could never settle for the 9 to 5 job but always thought of a bigger picture, of how to love yourself and not be limited by the conventional social norms.

     Her story is a story of  ‘Turning Disability Into Ability And Making It The Biggest Strength ‘, Dessidre Fleming story tells us how she stood tall despite her physical disability and exemplifies that limitations should never handicap your mental capacity to love yourself. Rather than staying stuck with ‘what people will say’ or ‘Kya kahenge log’, Dessidre believes that you should love yourself unconditionally. If ever in self-doubt, there is one self-love motivation she says always helped her- believe in yourself, even with all your scars, blemishes, disabilities, you are the perfect version of yourself.

    Dessidre Fleming is an editor and a writer. She has worked in print and online media. Dessidre has worked with big names like MensXp, PopXO, and is currently working with ScoopWhoop. 

    However, what is written in a medical textbook is not a story Dessidre wished to write for herself; her willpower to turn her medical condition into her strength is heroic in the face of hatred she’d faced from society and her close ones. As a child, She had all sorts of suggestions flowing in from people of non-medical background. While some wanted her to undergo surgeries, others forced her to use hearing aid machines. Eventually, they all gave up on her because She wouldn’t hear.

Going back in the school days, Dessidre remembers herself as a geek. Her nose was constantly in her school books or her favorite novels. When she wasn’t reading, she’d jot her ambitious thoughts down in a secret journal. Happy in her own little world, small Dessidre was suddenly filled with multiple questions when she started hearing critical remarks (from relatives and school kids) regarding the way she looked. She never knew I had a deformity. She always knew that She had one ear was missing but the child in her never considered this physical condition as a ‘Deformity.’ That was probably the first time when She was made to feel different from others.

After several rounds of medical check-up, She was asked to go for surgery but right before the surgery, She decided that She felt beautiful in the body She was born in and in no way was She planning any change.

     But to begin this new journey, the then teen girl was required to become even stronger. When she joined the college, she felt secluded as none of her classmates made an effort to interact with her. Truth is – the stigma that people like Dessidre Fleming aren’t good enough or beautiful comes from outside. The society makes us think so. We, in reality, grow up to be perfectly fine. It is people who make us think we aren’t enough.”

To make herself believe that she is enough, Dessidre had to undergo a lot of inner transformation during her teen days. First and foremost, she had to learn to appreciate herself. 

She has been regularly asked to get the surgery done, She laughs at the same not that Microtia is non-curable or that She did not believe in the fact that She would be cured. Her laugh was rather a scream where She wanted to say that She is happy with her present form and does not want to change.

Team Inspiring Life provides you with the 10 mantras you learn from the life of Dessidre Fleming.

10 mantras from the life of Dessidre Fleming.

1. Her life teaches us that to be successful you have to self-love. Loving yourself and accepting yourself is the greatest mantra of life.
2. You should have a dream and should remain devoted to the same.
3. Believe in your passion and self goal.
4. Don’t pay attention to what other says.
5. Take charge of your own life and never play victim card.
6. Don’t blame others for the mishappens in your life.
7. Positive thoughts and taking life in a positive manner.
8. Believing in the perfectness of her imperfection and reasoning that the world is imperfect and there is no need to think of being perfect.
9. Self-Appreciation of whatever one does, not waiting for others to appreciate.
10.  Your Attitude makes you what you are- Have a proper attitude towards self, people will have proper attitude towards you.