Cut off…

How has that month gone by so fast? Before we know it, it’ll be Christmas! Here’s hoping 2021 will be a better one.

So the end of this half term hasn’t quite gone as I expected, having been sent home 3 days beforehand to self-isolate. The quicker this virus disappears, the better! Google Classroom is lovely and all; I can sit in my PJs, and not have a million voices, asking me to do a million things at once. But give me a real life classroom with the real life voices of children and adults, and the real crazy life that school is, any day! Yes, I come home absolutely shattered more days than not, with a to-do list longer than when my day started, and lunch barely touched, but the relative quiet and calm that teaching from home gives, is just something so abnormal to me. Give me back my normality. (Not saying that I’m not enjoying the productive edge it gives me being able to focus on one thing at a time…. I do but compared to the last 4 years of my teaching career, it’s weird!)

Today I would like to write about the parts of our community, I feel have been shut out and isolated from their normal daily lives due to this pandemic- the deaf and hard of hearing. Masks have now become mandatory in so many parts of our lives, and they are there to protect us and others, from a virus that truthfully no one has got a handle on just yet. Through no fault of anyone, but the pandemic, these masks have become another obstacle in the way of an already tricky course, deaf and hear of hearing children, and adults, need to navigate every day.

Imagine this… you go into a shop, somewhere where it’s noisy, busy, and full of people all around you. The noise around you sounds like it’s as one, but it’s muffled. Then an assistant or another member of the public comes up behind you, or beside you, wearing a mask. They aren’t facing you directly, nor making eye contact, and all that background noise is still there. They say something to you, politely probably, but you don’t hear them properly, or understand them, and so you just glance over, nod, and try to carry on with your day. Without the mask you would probably try a smile too, to let them know you heard… kind of. But inside your stomach is churning, and your mind panicking, that you’ve missed what they’ve said, or that you’ve missed something really important. You get to the tills, and the cashier is politely chatting away to you, from behind their mask. Again, you are multitasking, emptying your shopping, packing it away again at the other end, and trying your very best to listen carefully to what is being said. The speech is muffled, and you’re not sure when or whether you should be answering at all. Listening, concentrating on, processing, and responding to all this is tiring at best and exhausting at worst.

Now obviously, in the grand scheme of things, I have very limited experience of this. There are people who are completely deaf, who, without lip reading or someone who signs being with them at all times, are feeling completely cut off from life and events going on around them. But I know first-hand that panic and feeling of missing out on something important. I know how the headache feels when you are constantly trying to keep up with a conversation and participate, all the while trying to focus on everyone’s mouths to make sure no one is trying to directly speak to you, as not to appear rude.

Near the beginning of this pandemic there was talk about this issue in the media; people discussing exactly this- how will those who have hearing impairments cope in a society where their coping mechanisms have ultimately been ripped away from them, with nothing in place to support them with their day to day lives? People who usually are so independent, because of how they have adapted to life in their ‘normal circumstances’, have taken to staying at home, too nervous about going out to crowded places, or having to find someone to accompany them on their journeys.

Yes, see through masks were paraded around back at the start. A great idea, that allowed others to see your mouth movements, hence giving deaf and hard of hearing communities a way in to communicate and connect once again. Then people were told these weren’t good enough to protect us against the virus due to the miniature holes in the plastic covering, apparently providing enough of a risk for them to perhaps not be a viable option. Once again, no alternatives were offered.

Now they are making a comeback, and I hope that now they have been redesigned to provide enough safety and security that they can continue to be used for the foreseeable future. This will give the cut off community a chance to reintegrate, and become a part of everyday life again, without the mental and emotional stress that comes with not being able to hear and function in the way they have become accustomed.

This pandemic is already taking a lot out of us, and from us as a population. Mental health problems are more likely than not on the rise, due to people having to stay home, unable to go out and see loved ones who beforehand would have been their support network. Parents are sending their children to school unsure about whether they will be the ones to bring COVID back to their homes, and into their families, unknowingly. Schools are trying their best to keep children (and adults) safe while they attend mandatory school lessons, but are already working to their limits. There is only so much they can do with the support that is available.

People all over the world have shown time and time again how supportive, loving, and practical they can be, just take a look at Marcus Rashford’s campaign to get every child in need a free school meal over the half term holidays and over Christmas! I just ask now (in my round-about way) not to let the deaf and hard of hearing community be forgotten about amongst the racket being made about everything, and anything, to do with COVID.

Becoming more aware of what is around us, and who is around us, I feel would make a massive difference. If you are wearing a mask, please keep in mind, when you are talking to someone, they may not hear as well as you do, and so speak clearly and make eye contact, so the person knows they are being spoken to. Finally, be prepared to repeat yourself if necessary. This can be incredibly frustrating I know, but to someone struggling to understand, remaining kind and patient will mean the world.

I’m really not sure this has come across as I had hoped (perhaps too much like a lecture…) Sorry if it has… All I wanted to do was raise awareness for people I feel have potentially been forgotten, and cut off from life as they know it, during this pandemic, and are suffering unnecessarily.

If you want to listen to first-hand experience which is definitely more coherent, please do give the link below a listen. Josie Gibson, who presents on ‘This Morning’ regularly, discussed this exact issue a week or so ago, and the points she (and her brother) made just hit me and made me think deeper into an issue that has been bothering me for a while- maybe even before this pandemic began.

Thank you as always and see you next month!

Sinead xx