Hello reader,
September is International Deaf
Awareness Month and as a hearing impaired person, I decided to do my part in
bringing awareness towards the deaf community and deaf culture. It is something
I really wanted to do because I believe not enough awareness is given to deaf
people so I thought what better place than my blog? I decided to publish this
post in two parts because I know most people do not appreciate long posts as
they quickly lose interest and I really do not want you to lose interest. I
mean, I’m trying to spread some awareness here, haha!
A little back story: even though I
have severe sensorineural hearing loss -which means the nerves or ‘hair cells’ just
up and died and the remaining ones are just barely holding on, and this also
has an impact on my speech – I have lived as close to a normal life as I
possible with the help of lip reading and hearing aids. A few years back I
became interested in learning more about the deaf community and a while after that
I entered a national pageant, Miss Deaf South Africa, which was a truly amazing
experience. I met a lot of beautiful deaf and hearing- impaired young women who
wanted to make a positive change. I spent a lot of time interacting with them
and watching them interacting with each other in sign language, they also
taught me a bit of sign language which I just LOVED because it was a great
improvement to my alphabetical sign language and when I left after a week, I
left with increased sign language vocabulary and a profound love and
appreciation for the deaf, deaf culture and sign language as a whole. Where
ever you are, I urge you to make friends with deaf people and interact with
them (this is also the fastest way to learn sign language. Without further ado (and
to prevent myself from rambling) I’m going to spread a little awareness in
here!
About deaf people
Deaf people are like you and
deafness does not
affect a person’s intellectual capacity or ability to learn so be careful
before calling a deaf person dumb just because they are struggling to
communicate with you. However, because deaf children do not have the language
stimulation that hearing children do, they is a slight delay in learning
language and this may cause a deaf child’s academic progress to be slower than
that of hearing children.
Dos and Don’ts when communicating with a deaf person
Do’s:
- Tap gently on his or her shoulder to get attention.
- If beyond reach to tap, wave in the air until eye contact is established.
- Switch lights on and off to get attention.
- Establish a comfortable distance between you and the person you are communicating with.
- Establish eye contact before beginning communication. Sign language is a visual language and therefore eyes are used to process the message. Eye contact is also used as a turn-taking technique, especially in group discussions where everyone looks at the next speaker.
- Wait for your turn to start signing.
- Keep your face clear of obstructions, e.g. hair, scarf.
- Show that you are attentive by nodding slightly – if you are expressionless, it conveys inattentiveness. Sign language is a visual language; you need to express yourself as adequately as possible.
- Do not be afraid to ask questions. Seriously, most deaf people to not mind questions and are always happy to answer. Don’t discourage people in your company to ask questions as well, unless it’s an inappropriate time.
Don’ts:
- Do not shout, make obscene gestures or speak very loudly close to a deaf person. This can be very annoying to them and I’ve had this happen to me often and it annoyed me. I also had people stand behind me and yell at me or obstruct their mouths while speaking to me to see ‘if I could hear them.’ I get their inquisitiveness, but it got old and to be honest, it made me feel sad and inadequate.
- When you need their attention, do not touch elsewhere on the body, e.g. head, face, stomach or use a fist/punch or kick or throw things to get attention. Especially throwing things, don’t throw things.
- Do not pass between two people signing - or excuse yourself if you have to. It’s considered very rude.
- Do not stand before the light from a window, this causes back lighting, meaning they can’t really see your features from the front.
- Do not stand in a dark spot. They need to be able to see you.
- Do not stand too close. Personal space rules apply to everyone people!
- Do not look away during the conversation, as that indicates termination of communication.
- Do not sign with hands full of objects, e.g. cup, books.
- Do not eat or chew anything while signing.
- Do not force a deaf-mute person to speak. Some deaf people prefer not to speak and that choice should be respected.
Why should
there be more awareness for deaf people?
Ask yourself this question, how many deaf people do you know
and have interacted with more than once? The fact is there are many deaf people
around but unfortunately they are limited to their own world which is in the
background of the hearing world. Deaf people are excluded from a number of
opportunities and participation for something they cannot help just because
many are not aware of them, or they choose not to include them because it takes
more time and money. A lot of events do not use the services of deaf
interpreters to involve the deaf community which means deaf people are often
excluded from events that would have been otherwise beneficial to them. Inclusion
and awareness of deaf people is a win-win situation for both the hearing and
the deaf communities. Many deaf people are so talented but they do not have a
platform to showcase and develop those talents. Also, some TV channels and
movies do not make use of subtitles/captions to include deaf and hearing
impaired people in their target audience. I myself have dedicated time asking
local film makers and producers to consider having subtitles on their movies to
include deaf and hearing impaired viewers. As a hearing impaired person, lack
of subtitles in movie DVDs I need to watch discourage me from watching
therefore I do not buy them. For example, the Spud movies staring John Cleese
and Troye Sivan. I am a huge fun of the books and when the first movie came
out, I waited for it to go to DVD and when it did I went looking for it and
flipped the DVD case over to check if it has subtitles…it didn’t, I placed it
back on the shelf and walked away. See where I’m going with this? I did not buy
it, meaning they lose a lot of potential money. Plenty of American and British films
that come out on DVD have subtitles, this is great. I however would like to
support the local film industry but I can’t if they don’t cater to me, I can’t
if they don’t support me. Imagine the amount on revenue that would be instilled
into the local film industry if they were aware of deaf people. Imagine all the
possibilities if the world was acutely aware of the deaf community.
Thanks a lot for being a willing audience haha! I hope those
burning questions you have are now answered. If not, leave a comment and I’ll
be more than happy to answer or refer you to someone much more qualified to
answer.
