You’d have to be living under a rock to not know about Covid 19 and the destruction it has had on the world and how we live. But what you might not know is the impact it has had on the Deaf and hard of hearing.
I’m Amy, I am 26 years old, Marketing Executive from Northern Ireland. Oh and I’m Deaf. I am well educated and have worked for several years now in Marketing and Communications. Since I was 13 years old stepping into a mainstream school I have faced every obstacle that comes with being a Deaf person in a hearing environment. I use lip-reading as my main way of communicating like many other deaf people do. I do it without even thinking and between lip- reading and my hearing aid, I am able to power through life and do that awkward don’t know whether to be happy or annoyed by this comment chuckle when people say “you wouldn’t know you were deaf.”
Covid 19 hit and I was transported back to being that scared kid, being forced out of the car to go pay for petrol so that I could build my confidence in lip reading and talk to people other than my family. The feeling of dread and utter panic when you’ve to ask someone for something and you don’t know if your going to understand the answer. At 26 when I felt most confident and proud of my abilities this was a massive blow, masks came into effect and I feel like I have become immediately isolated. When you have spent so much of your life trying not to look stupid when people speak to you, learning facial cues, understanding mumbles, how loud or soft to speak to now just seeing blank faces is pretty scary. To the point that you avoid having to go to shops or always having to take someone with you, which for a fiercely independent woman is another blow to my hard work.
I take pride in that I worked hard for my education and at my job, like other businesses many have decided it’s safer for staff to work from home. But with this comes a new host of difficulties, I’m faced with the choices of going into work and struggling to understand colleagues through masks and we all know there is only so many ways you can ask someone to repeat themselves before you feel completely stupid. Or an alternative you can use your hearing aid to its maximum capacity at home on zoom meetings as lip reading and bad internet connections are not your friend.
If you’re reading this and you’re not Deaf or hard of hearing and think it’s hard for you, imagine the impact it is having on the people around you that are. If this is the new “normal” what are we going to do to make sure we give this right to communicate back to the hard of hearing. Yes, I can walk around with a big badge that says “I’m deaf” so that people know but after years of making sure my disability isn’t what people think about when they look at me, years of showcasing how disabilities aren’t a label seems like a major slap in the face.
Like anything in life, the power of being decent and kind is one we all have. Whether that’s wearing a clear mask, making space and removing your mask, writing something down without causing embarrassment there is ways we can make sure that we aren’t isolating the Deaf and hard of hearing. The main characteristic in anyone with a disability is that we are resilient and like all the other obstacles we have pushed through, we will get through this one too.
Amy McMillan.