How Face Masks Cause Challenges For The Deaf Community

face mask

The deaf community has had a harder time than everyone else adjusting to the changes caused by Coronavirus. There has been an uprising in acknowledging the communication issues caused by general face masks used by the public. Many deaf or hard-of-hearing people struggle to understand others behind masks as it does not allow them to lip read or focus on facial expressions to judge a situation. 

A way to help is by wearing face shields as it offers protection along with giving a full view of the persons face to read their lips and judge their reactions. As they can not notice the tone of someone’s voice which expresses their emotions, a facial expression becomes much more insightful. The NHS and care workers are being given clear face masks and shields to be able to communicate effectively with people who have hearing loss, are autistic or have learning disabilities. 

As the national healthcare have noticed this problem, there has been a quick solution catering to their needs. However, this has not been the case everywhere as there was an absence of BSL interpreters for Coronavirus updates by the Government which caused petitions to arise. Many organisations worked to create their own BSL information sources to help the crowds.

Here is another article with a list of websites and resources from BSL videos and how to get support if needed:

We are offering both face-to-face BSL interpretations and video interpretations for remote services. Contact us for a free quote here.

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