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Music plays an integral role for drag queens. For many of them, lip-syncing to songs and dancing to them is their bread and butter. It doesn’t come easy for Panthera Arma, the first hard-of-hearing drag queen in the Philippines.
That doesn’t stop her, as she continues to give fierce and even meaningful performances. Just this year, she performed at the Metro Manila Pride March, where she incorporated sign language in her number.
Watch her performance below with fellow drag queen Destiny Roze:
Life before drag
Arma was clinically diagnosed with hearing loss in 2017, but she felt she was different since she was a kid.
She said, “As my family isn’t capable of having my hearing checked before, I’ve become accustomed to not hearing everything around me. I really thought that the world is somewhat quiet. I barely heard other people clearly, but that didn’t stop me from pursuing my dreams for myself and my family.”
Arma worked for a broadcasting media company for eight years but was let go because of recession. She eventually found work in the finance and administration department of a non-governmental organization.
Arma revealed that life can be difficult for those in the deaf and hard-of-hearing community. She said, “some people stereotype us as stupid or uneducated. I have experienced bullying but I want to prove them wrong and doing drag has nothing to do with any disabilities.”
Panthera’s drag journey
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Panthera Arma started her drag journey in 2022 after Precious Paula Nicole was crowned as the first Filipino drag superstar in the inaugural season of Drag Race Philippines. Arma is derived from the animal armadillo, which is nearly blind and deaf.
“I’ve been a huge fan of RuPaul’s Drag Race and at first, I didn’t see myself doing what these drag queens were in the show,” Arma said.
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She added, “Last November of 2022, I became very curious about the drag queens’ experience on and off television shows. I familiarized myself with the drag culture and eventually, I tried it out by practicing make up and joining small drag contests. It was a struggle for me when I started out in drag as I wasn’t well-known, and my condition added a layer of challenge for me.”
According to Arma, this led her confidence to suffer since she wasn’t sure if being hard of hearing will negatively impact her drag journey.
It hasn’t, and she continues to share her gorgeous looks on social media. She even posts videos where she teaches basic Filipino Sign Language.
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Her efforts have paid off as she was given the Huwaran Award by the Jesse M. Robredo Foundation this August. This recognition is given to individuals “who embody the values of ‘huwaran‘ and stand as examples of ordinary heroes.”
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Arma is indeed a hero, and a beautifully-dressed one at that.
She said, “I realized having a hearing disability – this very thing that isolated me from the world – makes me special. Embracing my hearing disability as part of who I am helped me build my confidence, along with finding people who believe in my abilities as a drag artist. I want to inspire people living with disabilities that we can still achieve our dreams in life and live with our heads held high. I want to be part of that change.”
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