{"id":40559,"date":"2020-11-24T12:40:52","date_gmt":"2020-11-24T12:40:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/?p=40559"},"modified":"2020-11-24T12:40:52","modified_gmt":"2020-11-24T12:40:52","slug":"i-cant-hear-you-has-the-deaf-community-been-left-in-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/i-cant-hear-you-has-the-deaf-community-been-left-in-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018\u2018I can\u2019t hear you.&#8221; &#8211; has the deaf community been left in silence?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Covid-19 has been anything but easy for everyone. Many have been affected by the pandemic across the globe, but some feel that they have been left unsupported through these trying times. Members of the UK\u2019s deaf community feel unheard and are reaching out for more support.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">What is it like to have a hearing impairment?<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Hearing impairment is mostly a hidden disability, one we cannot see at first glance. Sign language, lip reading and face-to-face interactions are used to be able to understand others.<\/p>\n<p>However, the pandemic has restricted this and left individuals unable to communicate clearly.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For those that aren\u2019t familiar with what it\u2019s like to have a hearing impairment, here\u2019s a short video simulating the different levels of hearing loss.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Hearing Loss Simulation - What&#039;s It Like?\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PbBZjT7nuoA?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">What are the difficulties being faced?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Speaking to members of the community, they expressed their thoughts on the impacts they have faced.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2018\u2018Other people, I hate to say, don\u2019t necessarily understand how difficult it can be to communicate when you have a hearing aid and can\u2019t understand [or] hear what people are saying.&#8221;<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">&#8211; Anonymous<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2018\u2018It has been [very] difficult for me at work. I rely on lip-reading and for the past nine weeks, I\u2019ve had to be on a frontline ambulance struggling to communicate. It\u2019s very stressful.&#8221; &#8211; D Ni Ghiollag\u00e1in, London Ambulance Service NHS Trust<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2018\u2018It\u2019s brought massive challenges. For me at work as a teacher [&#8230;] I felt like I just couldn\u2019t do my job. So it prompted me to go to the doctor about my hearing [&#8230;] So overall I\u2019m actually grateful that Covid has pushed me to look into what\u2019s available now.&#8221; &#8211; Anonymous\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The group indicated that the use of masks is what makes life more difficult for them. It\u2019s the inability to lip-read that leaves them struggling to understand people and often makes them feel more anxious than usual. This is also the same for individuals with other disabilities. Read more <a href=\"http:\/\/thevoiceoflondon.co.uk\/disabled-young-people-facing-higher-levels-of-anxiety-amid-the-covid-19-pandemic\/\">here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Roger Wicks of <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/ActionOnHearing?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@ActionOnHearing<\/a> is calling for greater &quot;deaf awareness&quot; during the <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/coronavirus?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#coronavirus<\/a> pandemic.<\/p>\n<p>He says face masks could present &quot;a real barrier&quot; for those with hearing loss &#8211; making speech muffled, and preventing lip reading.<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#COVID19<\/a>: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9oulBXgqBO\">https:\/\/t.co\/9oulBXgqBO<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/LKMB60lb8d\">pic.twitter.com\/LKMB60lb8d<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Sky News (@SkyNews) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SkyNews\/status\/1283434956212121601?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 15, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><em>The Voice of London<\/em> reached out to NDCS, the National Deaf Children\u2019s Society, to speak to Carla Rose-Hardman, a Family Programmes and Involvement Manager. She explained some of the implications of Covid-19 and what they are doing to help.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2018\u2018Face masks have been a huge issue because almost all deaf children and young people rely on lip-reading. Some deaf young people have told us they\u2019re <\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">less likely to leave the house and are avoiding public transport completely, while parents have told us their deaf children are becoming lonely and withdrawn because they can\u2019t understand what people are saying to them.&#8221;\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NDCS helped 2,274 families between April and September this year and supported them through their helpline and online family information events. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">They also provide Family Sign Language classes on Youtube to give them a chance to learn and better their communication.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline\">So what can we do to help?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-40564 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/Purple-Yellow-Blue-and-Pink-Disease-Prevention-Coronavirus-Awareness-Poster-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"724\" height=\"512\" srcset=\"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/Purple-Yellow-Blue-and-Pink-Disease-Prevention-Coronavirus-Awareness-Poster-1.png 2245w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/Purple-Yellow-Blue-and-Pink-Disease-Prevention-Coronavirus-Awareness-Poster-1-300x212.png 300w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/Purple-Yellow-Blue-and-Pink-Disease-Prevention-Coronavirus-Awareness-Poster-1-1024x724.png 1024w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/Purple-Yellow-Blue-and-Pink-Disease-Prevention-Coronavirus-Awareness-Poster-1-768x543.png 768w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/Purple-Yellow-Blue-and-Pink-Disease-Prevention-Coronavirus-Awareness-Poster-1-1536x1086.png 1536w, https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/64\/2020\/11\/Purple-Yellow-Blue-and-Pink-Disease-Prevention-Coronavirus-Awareness-Poster-1-2048x1448.png 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 724px) 100vw, 724px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u2018\u2018C<\/span>lear face\u00a0masks can be very useful for deaf children and young people, almost all of whom rely on lip-reading. The Government has purchased clear face masks for healthcare settings, but we\u2019d like to see these made widely available. Many shops and services are already using clear face masks and coverings for instance, and this is brilliant to see. However, clear face masks are not the complete solution and people also need to be deaf aware when they speak to a deaf person.&#8221; &#8211;\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Carla Rose-Hardman\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Whether adults or children, it&#8217;s worth keeping the disabled communities in mind. Sunflower lanyards are being used to make people more aware of a person&#8217;s disabilities and people are now turning to clear visors and masks to make themselves more accessible.<\/p>\n<p>Let&#8217;s not leave communities, such as the deaf and hearing-impaired suffering.\u00a0<span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Awareness and patience are all that\u2019s needed.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Words: Jessica Noble | Subbing: Kristina Hristova<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Covid-19 has been anything but easy for everyone. Many have been affected by the pandemic across the globe, but some feel that they have been left unsupported through these trying times. Members of the UK\u2019s&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":476,"featured_media":40560,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[1480,1588,1760,1844,4017,4458,6017],"class_list":["post-40559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lifestyle","tag-communication","tag-covid-19","tag-deaf-community","tag-difficulties","tag-masks","tag-nhs","tag-support"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40559","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/476"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40559"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40559\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40560"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.westminster.ac.uk\/thevoiceoflondon\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}