Story By: Juan Mayes, Sub-Editor: Marija Stojkoska, Agency:  Newsflash

This deaf Japanese model has won the hearts and minds of her army of online followers due to her beauty and courage in the face of adversity.

News of Japanese model Yurika Gazuma’s growing popularity was first reported by local media on 7th December.

The model has nearly 50,000 followers on both Instagram and Twitter who are blown away by her natural beauty and courage to strive for success in the face of adversity.

Gazuma, 20, was born deaf in the city of Chiba in the Japanese region of Kanto and started attending speech classes when she was just three years old.

She later started using a hearing aid to help her communicate with others which she still uses to this day.

Gazuma suffered bullying and was repeatedly mocked by her classmates when she was growing up and did not fully accept herself.

She cites an example of when she was forced to sing in front of a crowd during a music course and was tormented for it afterwards.

The 20-year-old beauty said she did not fully learn to accept herself until she was in her adolescence, before she decided to venture into the modelling world.

Since becoming a model and revealing her past hardships, Gazuma is amassing a large online following who sympathise with her disability and send her messages of encouragement.

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