Juliet England: Coronavirus advice should be clearer for deaf people

It’s the gravest health crisis within living memory, and there can hardly be anyone reading this who hasn’t heard of, and, yes, started to worry about, COVID-19, the infectious disease caused by the most recently found coronavirus.

It’s been in the UK since, it is thought, the end of January, after the outbreak began in the Chinese city of Wuhan at the end of last year. The number of cases here is 319 at the time of writing, and rising.

There has been plenty of misinformation flying around in recent weeks and months, and this is not a forum for serious medical advice. But everyone needs to inform themselves about the virus and how best to protect themselves and others.

Are deaf people likely to be disproportionately adversely affected as the disease spreads? And what help and support is available?

Of course, anyone can read up about coronavirus, and you don’t need me to tell you to stick to reliable sources such as the NHS or the World Health Organisation (WHO).

However, what is anyone supposed to do if written English is not their first language?

Charity SignHealth has a series of BSL videos about the virus, as reported previously in Limping Chicken.

The face-to-face contact that a deaf person might appreciate isn’t really possible for anyone who thinks they may have contracted (or come into contact with) COVID-19, since, understandably, people are being advised to contact the NHS remotely rather than visiting a healthcare facility and risking spreading infection.

As so often, the advice is to pick up the phone and call the NHS. But what if you can’t?

It’s true that you can call NHS 11 with BSL by going to this link – the service is available daily between 8am and midnight.

However, it’s less clear what you are supposed to do if, like me, you have a significant hearing loss but don’t sign.

The NHS website has a certain amount of information, much of which, admittedly, is very clear. But when I went through it, pretending I had symptoms, in the end it just told me to see to a nurse. I can’t phone, I’m not allowed to visit a surgery, pharmacy or similar. What I would be actually supposed to do looked rather unclear, unless I am missing something.

At times like this, public broadcasters like the BBC have a special role to play in giving people information. While, in many other countries, official announcements are provided with a BSL interpreter present at press conferences, that’s certainly not routinely the case in the UK.

In Australia, the bushfire news conferences were interpreted. New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern was the first in her nation to hire a regular interpreter, and Alan Wendt is a permanent fixture at major press events such as after the Christchurch massacre. In the US, too, major media gatherings are interpreted for deaf viewers as a matter of course.

Already, one or two Deaf BSL users have taken to Twitter to express their frustration that this isn’t standard practice here.

#coronavirus #WHEREBSL #interpreter #equalityfailed @10DowningStreet @BorisJohnson @Channel4 @BBCBreaking @channel5_tv @BBCNews @BDA_Deaf @TerryRiley44 you are so right "enough is enough!" pic.twitter.com/UCdfzTO1Mg

— Lynn Stewart-Taylor (@jerseysnail) March 9, 2020

Then there is the question of what to do if you have to self-isolate. Since phoning a friend or family member isn’t an option, deaf people would be more than usually reliant on digital forms of communication.

Equally, while at the time of writing this doesn’t apply, if there were to be restricted movement, how would interpreters get to places to provide their services? How would they feel about working in a situation where they might themselves be at risk of infection?

Of course, some larger interpreted events may well ultimately be cancelled, but it’s not clear how deaf patients needing interpreted medical appointments – or being hospitalised with severe symptoms – would fare in the light of coronavirus, or how an infected person would communicate.

The New York Times has written powerfully about how deaf people in China were affected:

The Wuhan government made no announcements about the epidemic in sign language. On Jan 23, the day the city was locked down, some deaf residents didn’t find out about it until they had trouble taking public transport. Many older deaf people have trouble reading, so much information about the outbreak’s seriousness did not reach them. Some kept getting together to play mah-jong, despite a ban on such gatherings. Most Chinese hospitals are unable to provide sign-language services.

The UK is no doubt better placed to look everyone than many other countries, despite the imperfections. But there’s no denying that the deaf population remains more vulnerable in this crisis.

Finally, apart from anything else, have you ever tried to lip-read someone from behind a face mask? No. Didn’t think so.

Photo: Center for Disease Control