We were lucky to catch up with Robin “Bino” Gillon recently and have shared our conversation below.
Robin “Bino”, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Has your work ever been misunderstood or mischaracterized?
I was born severely deaf and my surrounding categorized me as a disabled kid with very little hope for a good future. The idea of ever making it as a professional athlete let alone being able to go to university or have an exciting life seemed impossible as a kid growing up. I had nobody to look up or relate to as there was no such thing as a famous deaf athlete performing at the highest level, a deaf astronaut, actor or whatever. Only old people or people categorized as disabled were deaf…
As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?
I’m a freeskier and snowmobiler that grew up in Switzerland from a Dutch mother and half British half Swiss father. I currently live in the U.S. in Utah with my Australian Fiancée.
I have competed and represented my country, the Netherlands, at the highest stage for 10 years in 14 world cups, 2 world championships and many major international competitions. I am the Dutch champion in 2x disciplines (Big Air & Slopestyle).
I have 2x short films called “sound of silence – Robin Gillon” and “What It’s Like” about my skiing and story growing up with my deafness. We have won several awards across the world.
I currently focus and specialize in skiing and snowmobiling in the backcountry for movie projects in partnerships with other athletes and companies that help put our visions to people’s screens.
I’m an activist for deaf/had of hearing kids/adults around the world. I had nobody to look up to growing up and everyone told me it couldn’t be done (except for my dear parents). The odds were stacked against me. I want to be the bridge between the hearing and deaf world to show that we can very well functions in today’s society with very little adjustments. I want to normalize being different/unique. The world would be boring if we were all the same.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
I have been actively pushing kids and adults to follow their dreams and not let anybody tell them what they can or cannot do despite their differences. I was born with severe deafness and today, I speak 4 languages fluently, have a degree in finance in my 4th language (English) in an American University, hold international titles for my short movies and among the top 50 best skiers in the world competitively speaking let alone find myself an amazing hearing fiancée. If you would have told me I would be were I am today as a child, I would have NEVER believed you.
The point here is not to brag, I had to prove myself that it was possible but it was a lonely journey and I wouldn’t wish that to anybody else. Bullies and skeptics were always trying to tell me it wasn’t possible. I had to find alternatives, solutions and be creatives to many scenarios.
The idea that some kids out there are doubting themselves into whether they can become somebody or not is my driving force for everything that I do.
One of my newest project is to earn a pilot license to fly planes, commercially. I have just gotten the green light from an aviation doctor to start flying as with technology, the newest hearing aids from Phonak, I can hear in the aviation headset. Hence, another example that would showcase nothing is impossible.
It’s hard to describe what I do exactly. On most days I am performing or training to perform for my athletic career in a film, shows and creative settings but I spend my days finding ways to advocate for the HOH/Deaf community. I create events to bring awareness, I go to schools to give speeches against bullying and be accepting of each others differences, I do premieres with the films we’ve done, fundraise money for Hear The World Foundation to provide money for kids that do not have resources to have hearing aids/care and created a clothing brand called “Deaf Jam” to utilize the word Deaf in clothes that I would personally rock (early 00s punk era).
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
As a kid in middle school in Switzerland, it is tradition to lay out invitation letters for birthdays on your peers desk. However, I never had a single letter on my desk for any birthdays because I was the “weird” kid with big blue hearing aids that sounded funny with my speech and couldn’t hear well.
Ever since, I needed a sense of belonging and uniting.
One day, my older sister’s boyfriend took me to a skatepark to try on skateboarding. This was after a rough day at school getting bullied all day, as soon as we arrived there, I noticed something different. Everyone had a unique style, dressing code, all kind of colors and was an overall super diverse community. Nobody cared about my blue hearing aids and my accent. Immediately, a sense of relief and belonging was felt. I was obsessed with skating, however, knowing that I loved snow so much, I quickly found out about freestyle skiing which instead of going to the skatepark, I would go to a snowpark.
Through freestyle skiing, an individual and creative sport, I have finally found my first real community of people that have accepted for who I was. With time, I have learned to accept and love myself for my differences. In fact, something that still surprises me to this day, it eventually became my strength as it made me different. It set me apart and I have learnt through my adversity to fight and be resilient. No jumps were big enough to stop me to perform some of the world craziest tricks.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.robingillon.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/robingillon/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/robin.v.c.gillon
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgillon/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC_qJWPRTs_n_i-ZYa0rC7ig
Image Credits
Alex Arkeilpane Cam Barney Robin Gillon Nicole Schafer Will Devereux