This blog post is about CLEFT LIP and PALATE AWARENESS, my response on Wendy Williams show aired Jan 7th, 2020. (About 11:00 mark on the video below)

 


Dear Miss Wendy Williams,

 

" When he shaves, he has that hairline fracture". Mocking someone born with a CLEFT LIP is offensive especially on National TV. 

 

Let me speak up for my two year old son born with a Cleft condition and for the rest of the cleft families and cleft community here.

 

Cleft Kids and adults have been through a lot. They have been through multiple surgeries that start as young as 4 months old and series of speech therapies and so on. Then of course on top that, there is the school years dealing with some innocent but can be mean children and the hard teenage years of fitting in. After that, some get through it with their head ups and some still struggle to fit in! 

 

Did you know the social struggles they face?  - This is struggle is just in North America.

 

Now let’s talk about the the other side of the world, where people who are born with Cleft condition live their daily lives without a surgery because they can't afford it.  They have that beautiful wide smile that the cruel world is not used to. Imagine the pain of being bullied/ mocked in class, by neighbors and unfortunately even families. 

 

Words have great power that could make or break others. You are a very talented host and you’ve made a lot of people have good laughs in your shows but this particular issue on cleft lip, I hope that you recognize that there are people and families like us that struggle and try to be brave everyday. 

 

 

Audrey Giesbrecht

Cleft Proud Mom/ Smile Advocate

 

 

My son Roman, the day before his cleft lip surgery in 2018.

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