Communication is a crucial part of our daily lives and as we don’t want to feel any part of our population is isolated or frustrated, there are easy ways for us to be more deaf-aware. There are also some unique ways and more immersive ways to try and understand:
Easy Ways
- Understand deafness: Deafness is a spectrum and not all of those that identify as deaf are profoundly deaf (meaning they can’t hear anything at all); degrees of hearing loss can vary from person to person.
- Communication style: Each deaf or hard-of-hearing person will have their own preference for communicating. It could include sign language (of which there are many!), lip-reading, the use of an interpreter, a combination of all of these, or none of these. (environmental factors can play a huge role in this decision also)
- Recognize signs someone can’t hear you:
Ask you to repeat phrases or words
Seem confused while in conversation
Appear to be ignoring you
Pay close attention to your facial expressions
Communicate with hand gestures that you don’t understand
Be wearing a hearing aid or cochlear implant - Be aware of yourself and communication style: body position is important (face the individual when possible at a shared eye level); speak in a clear, unexaggerated way; use simple body language and visual cues; don’t be afraid to write things down – especially if it is critical information that needs to be fully understood
Unique ways to understand that and more immersive:
- Read a good book or watch a movie with deaf characters: List of books link, List of movies link
- Experience what it is like to watch a movie or television show with no sounds and captions only
- Take the Unfair Spelling Test and get a good sense of what it is like to hear with a hearing loss
- Give your family or friends a lip-reading test: Check out this short video then make it a game by having classmates or family members come up with sentences to try to lipread each other. Of course, another fun way to appreciate the challenge of lipreading is to check out the YouTube channel BAD LIP READING
- And finally… take time to learn more, and explore the accessible technology that deaf or hard of hearing individuals use to access the world (cochlear implants, FM systems, video phones, flashing doorbells, alarm clocks, and more)