Displaying items by tag: communication difficulties

Wearing face masks in shops creates massive communication barriers for deaf people who lip-read. The group Deaf Connect have produced cards which deaf people can carry round, asking people to remove their masks when they are speaking to them. Action on Hearing Loss is advising the general public to remove their masks, make sure they face the person they are speaking to and recommend speech-to-text apps. Janice Silo from Signs of God told Premier Christian Radio that lip-reading people wearing masks is impossible. She said, ‘Sometimes we ask people to write things down and they behave as if that is beneath them. Like they'd never heard of paper and pencil before! But writing stuff down is really useful. Also, when coronavirus is finished and we don't have to wear masks any more, please continue what you've been doing, being patient and writing stuff down.’