My youngest daughter lost her hearing in her twenties. While texting has been an amazing thing for her to keep up distant communications she relies heavily on lip reading in close communication. Today she voiced a question that raises a whole new set of problems in this crisis for her. How will I understand people if their mouths are covered by a mask?

Oh no! Last night I was wondering how people would know if we smile at them. I didn't think of deaf people.

Kentish, I'm so sorry this is going on for her.

Thanks for letting us know this! A lot of us wouldn't have realized that could be an issue.

I didn't even think of that Kentish. That is quite a challenge. Is there a phone app that would do voice to text?

Just learned a few minutes ago that all workers in her department of a major Salt Lake Corporation are being given lap tops to work at home. Communications, meetings etc. between them will be done through the computers

Actually, the social distancing requirements present different problems for different disabilities. Here are a couple related to my visual disability:

1) How do I know if I am at least 6 feet away from anybody. I obviously cannot utilize any lines drawn on the ground to guide me.

2) When walking with others, including in the hospital, most blind people utilize the so-called sighted guide techniques they were trained on by the blind schools and state vocational rehabilitation agencies. This technique involves holding on the sighted person's arm just above the elbow and walking about a half step behind them. This, for obvious reasons, does not, and cannot ever, comply with social distancing requirements.

Of course, blind people can follow their sighted compatriots with their canes and dogs, but dogs are not trained to walk at least 6 feet away from the next person, and holding a 68-inch cane diagonally down in front of you to follow the person ahead of you gives you about two feet of space. The rest you have to guess.

Fortunately, since the problem began, I have had to make only one trip outside of the house to see a cardiologist (it was routine resulting from a heart attack I had five years ago). I took my sighted niece with me--she drove and was the arm which I held at the appointment. To date (this was a week and a half ago now), neither of us have shown any signs of disease, but I'm still going to have to keep my fingers crossed that neither of us nor the 5 other family members that live here gets it.

That is very useful information, blindguy. Yet again, something many of us don't have to think about, and so we don't realize.

It's difficult enough as it is to traverse through life. Then some people have these additional obstacles placed in their way, literally.

I'm glad you and kentish have drawn our attention to these issues. I'd like to raise them in various venues as, unfortunately, many of us just don't think of them and we should, to be the best help possible to the widest number of people, especially in such a grave situation as the one we're experiencing at this time.

I'm glad you got through your appointment OK, on all counts. Fortunately, you live with others who can hopefully help you during a time when these perhaps insurmountable problems will no doubt keep occurring. It's also a challenge to social distance in a crowd at home. I only live with one other person and yet we often trip over each other. I kind of give up trying to stay 6 feet away from him. If there were even more of us the degree of challenge rises.

It's hard to stay indoors. I'm trying to only grocery shop twice a week, maximum, now and it's a challenge to eat enough fresh food, especially fruit and salad. The fact that the timeline keeps stretching out further and further (it started here in Canada at only 2 weeks of distancing) can be frustrating and discouraging but the alternative is worse (going out and potentially becoming ill).

The little kid next door had an unusual birthday party today. He and his family were out in their front yard, with streams of multi-coloured balloons and several kids (from his family) drawing with coloured chalk on their driveway. All afternoon there was a lot of honking going on as well-wishers were driving past to give him a wave. I thought that was quite creative of his family and friends. And reassuring that no matter what, most people are making a good attempt to follow the guidelines to stay apart until we get through this thing. (Well, now it's more than guidelines - we're starting to see fines and other penalties for people completely disregarding the distancing and other safety regs that have been implemented).

At least the sun is shining as we move into spring. I find that helps to keep the spirits up.

Take care, everybody!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/06/2020 10:20PM by Nightingale.

I happened to see this today and thought of you:
https://theheartysoul.com/college-student-creates-see-through-mask-for-deaf-and-hearing-impaired/

Of course this might not be practically helpful right now also seeing as you’d have to get other people to wear them...it’s good someone thought of it I guess.

I realized this earlier today at my appointment for physical therapy. I am hard of hearing, and have hearing aids, but they don't help all that much, so I seldom wear them. I have learned, to some extent, to coordinate what I hear with watching people's mouths.

I have a standing agreement with my physical therapist that if I have the least sign of symptoms, I'll call. DH and I have both been carefully practicing social isolation, and so far, so good. The therapist wore a face mask, but she was kind enough to speak very clearly for me.

It's a terrifying situation. A Plague for 2020.

Ah yes, I can relate to this one. I run into the same problem if they allow a bank teller who is wearing a religious covering that covers their face. I'm not being prejudiced if I get frustrated by this. If I can't see their mouth, then I can't read their lips.

Even with my hearing aids in, I cannot understand someone who is talking to me through a mask. I do a combination of listening and lip-reading, one reinforcing the other, to make out what is being said to me.

My mother was hard of hearing and had hearing aids, which she didn't wear very much. After I heard how they work, I understood. My grandparents couldn't read lips, but my mother was very dependent on reading lips. I can't even begin to imagine if they were all here now. I couldn't handle watching them go through it. My grandmother had whooping cough at 1 and my grandpa had inherited hearing loss. He could probably hear with hearing aids these days.