How deaf people are tackling the challenges of face masks and lipreading

We all know that deaf people are disproportionately affected by the current health crisis. From trying to lipread people behind face masks to a lack of sign language interpretation at the (admittedly now ended) daily government press briefings, to an emphasis on the phone for things like NHS 111, it’s been harder for us than most.

As lockdown starts to ease, there’s no guarantee our feelings of anxiety will reduce at the same time.

Yet good things can come out of adversity. To prove that it’s not all bad news, here are some stories you may have missed about how the community has swung into action to help tackle the problem of face masks and lipreading.

Lipreading badge of honour

Cambridgeshire Deaf Association (CDA) is tackling the lipreading behind masks issues head-on with an innovative idea.

Clearly, face coverings have become a common sight, and they’re now compulsory on public transport.

CDA’s solution was to come up with badges, plus other items such as T-shirts, socks, babygrows and hoodies, which make it clear that the wearer is a lipreader. Badges are free to members and cost £1 each, plus postage. All merchandise is available from the organisation’s website, and CDA will also post items on request.

The association says the idea has taken off, sparking local radio interviews, while some 200 badges (and counting) have already been sent off across the country.

Chief executive Andrew Palmer, former Limping Chicken deputy editor, explains:

“But this isn’t about making money. It’s a response to our members’ concerns about communication as we all start to get out and about more.

“It alerts others to the fact that the wearer needs to read their lips, and we hear it’s already enhancing communication, by encouraging people to use gestures, mobile phones or pen and paper for writing things down, or perhaps taking a conversation behind a Perspex screen if possible.”

CDA subtitles all its YouTube videos, as well as having BSL interpretation. Its information about Covid, plus the BBC Radio Cambridgeshire interview with Palmer, can be found here.

Staying in the same part of the world, Cambridgeshire Hearing Help has set up a local online network for people to stay in touch and share experiences after the regular social group was forced to disband by pandemic restrictions. It has a launch date of June 30.

Clear action: call for see-through face masks heeded

Austin Goddard, 11, photographed with his sister Emily (main photo) and above with his dog Roman, is severely to profoundly deaf and lives in West Sussex. He contacted his local TV station to highlight the problem of not being able to lipread through facial coverings.

He also raised the issue with Boris Johnson, copying in his local MP, Conservative Tim Loughton, who promised to talk to the Prime Minister personally about the matter and added his voice to the campaign.

There was also an online petition which has garnered hundreds of signatures, plus a video on the National Deaf Children Society (NDCS) website.

Austin wrote: “The masks that cover up mouths are awful. They make me feel sad and lonely, because I can’t understand what anybody is saying. I also find them very scary.”

His mother Justine, a trustee of the Brighton, Hove and West Sussex local NDCS group, backing the call for clear coverings, added: “Of course, everyone is so proud of my son, and the way he is speaking up for himself, his friends and deaf people. But it’s also sad that a child has to raise something that should already be in place. Deaf people rely so much on facial expressions and lipreading.

“I am not deaf, but couldn’t hear an instruction from a staff member in a shop the other day who had a mouth covering on. It made me feel like just giving up on getting what I wanted.”

Austin’s sister, Emily, 21, said: “We don’t just want the adapted masks for odd weeks or months, but indefinitely, for surgeons, dentists and whenever else they’re needed.”

Austin’s plea was answered after he appeared on regional TV. Poole resident Ann Bebb has offered to make masks to help Austin – she was already producing them for her BSL interpreter sister.

She explains that it is not that much harder to make a clear mask than a regular one – just a little fiddly.

Meanwhile, cancer researcher Dr Andrea Pepper of the Brighton and Sussex Medical School, who is herself deaf, is calling on universities and schools to understand the need for clear masks or other PPE for those with a hearing loss, and for clear coverings to be supplied where possible.

Additionally, Salisbury woman Sonia Carley, a former geo-technical engineer who has worked on the HS2 project, has given up her job to make thousands of clear masks as part of a new business venture, which she is self-funding and which will be run commercially.

Carley told journalists: “A childhood friend’s little sister, who was profoundly deaf, died after fighting the coronavirus for nine weeks. I dread to think what it was like not to be able to hear those around her during that time.”