Laken Brooks writes that for the deaf and hard of hearing, face masks are posing new risks by concealing mouths -- necessary for reading lip
While masks are a vital health care tool for many people, they also present a new set of challenges for the deaf community. When people wear masks, including trending DIY masks, they muffle their voices and prevent people from reading their lips. For people who are hard of hearing, that's a problem.
I took to social media to see how Covid-19 is impacting people in the real world. Non-deaf medical professionals and deaf people alike have experienced unexpected communication issues during Covid-19. These problems range from my inconveniences when shopping to potentially life-threatening medical misunderstandings.
Lauren Sugrue was born hard of hearing. Sugrue says, "Lip reading has been more difficult because you don't want people to take off their masks or other face coverings for protection. But when you can't see their lips, it's extremely difficult to know what they're saying. I've had to find new ways to communicate even before Covid-19, but the pandemic has thrown new hurdles in our way." Sugrue effectively used a whiteboard to communicate with doctors before coronavirus began to spread; however, many people in the deaf community now cannot pass a piece of paper or a whiteboard back and forth to a person who is standing six feet away.
Deva Darnell, a non-deaf nurse in an emergency room, says "I have a hard time communicating with my patients. People who could normally read my lips now can't understand me." Darnell can't take off her mask when she works. Even if she could, her patients with vision impairments can't read her lips if she stands far away. "I feel guilty, like I can't serve some of my patients as well or as quickly as I need to."
We are three people. But our stories represent thousands, if not millions, of people around the globe who are struggling to connect with others during Covid-19. The Deaf/Hard of Hearing Technology Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center published strategies for deaf people to use when they navigate public or medical spaces, such as by downloading speech-to-text apps or preparing a written script before leaving their home.
The organization states, "You need to be prepared. Before the pandemic, hospitals had good services to help you communicate clearly. There are new rules now. Many hospitals will not allow in-person interpreters to go in with you." But this burden shouldn't fall solely on the shoulders of the deaf community. In these unprecedented times, we will have to work together to find unprecedented ways to communicate.