(The Walrus) – Surgeons promised to make me whole. No one asked what I wanted

I was born missing an ear. What followed was years of well-intentioned violence from a medical system bent on solving the “problem” of my body. In total, I underwent fourteen surgeries to create the appearance of an outer ear. After the first five surgeries in my hometown of Kingston, Ontario, failed, my plastic surgeon referred me to the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, where the new plan was to use my own skin and cartilage, as opposed to synthetic implants, to create the simulacrum of an ear. (Read More)