Being Deaf In The Age of The Corona Virus
If I searched up “face masks” on google earlier this year I would have found spa masks as my search result.
Today, this same search term would result in face coverings that are used to combat COVID-19. The world has changed so much. These past few months of 2020 have been very unusual for the world. The spread of COVID-19 has caused mass confusion and fear in people. COVID-19 exposed the flaws of the system that we are a part of. In the beginning of the year when this pandemic first made its way into the country, it did not take long before the virus spread and unfortunately killed thousands of people. Everywhere in the world was completely shut down and the world felt like it was on stand still.
Scientists and experts in the Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC) came forward to tell us what we should and should not do to prevent the spread of this deadly virus. There was a huge debate on whether people should wear masks or not. I remember when we had the first outbreak, scientists went on the news saying that masks would not be effective and that we should save the masks for medical professionals-- I remember Obama going on Instagram to debunk the effectiveness of masks!
With more research, scientists have come back to the general public to approve of masks in addition to social distancing at 6 feet. The mandatory wearing of masks has caused many to protest because they feel like it is a violation of their human rights. The wearing of masks has now been turned to a political debate.
As seen from above, not everybody is in favor of masks being worn. Anti-maskers deem masks to be an attempt for the government to control us, others believe it is a breach of their human rights. Although I personally believe that masks are necessary to stop the spread of the virus, I thought it would be interesting to explore to hear the thoughts about masks from a community that heavily relies on lip reading and body language.
The deaf community has been left out of the conversation for a very long time. According to the World Health Organization(WHO), around 466 million people worldwide have disabling hearing loss (1), and 34 million of these are children. With such a large number of people experiencing hearing loss, it is such a shame that they are often excluded from the conversation.
From my understanding, a lot of deaf people rely on lip reading and body language to be able to understand what people are saying. In this assignment, I interviewed 2 people: Raven Sutton and Zusi Ine. These two ladies have two very different stories as do many deaf cases. These interviews were conducted through written response on google docs.
Raven is from Birmingham, Alabama. “I was genetically born Deaf from my father and his side of the family. I am the 4th generation that is Deaf”, Raven expresses. When asked if she speaks American Sign Language(ASL), she mentioned that that is her primary language. She graduated high school from the Alabama School for the Deaf, and obtained her Bachelor and Master in Social Work from Gallaudet University. Raven uses her large social media platforms to create Deaf Awareness videos, dance videos and ASL music covers. She currently works at a Domestic and Sexual Violence Agency in D.C. that serves survivors in the Deaf community.
Zusi is a British-Nigerian that currently attends Columbia University. I’ve known Zusi since our primary school days in Nigeria. Like I said before, not all stories from the deaf community are the same. Zusi was not born genetically deaf. She had a near drowning experience at 4 years old that caused her to have Trauma-Induced Chronic Otitis Media. Zusi uses her social media platforms to raise awareness to the deaf community. She is most active on Instagram, however she does have a tik tok and a youtube channel as well. English is Zusi’s first language and she knows a bit of British Sign Language (BSL).
I asked them several questions that relate to masks and the pandemic. The first question I asked them was if they knew how to read lips. I felt that this question would be relevant to this assignment because I suspected that the main reason why the deaf community would be frustrated by masks was if they were able to read lips. They both know how to read lips, however, “not all Deaf people can read lips. I learned how to read lips due to my mother's side of the family not knowing ASL and using verbal english to communicate”, Raven Clarified.
I then proceeded to ask them how the covid rules regarding masks had affected them. I encouraged them to talk more about reading lips and body language. Raven said, “In general, it is difficult to communicate with non-ASL signers. Now due to COVID-19, it is mandatory to wear masks for our safety. This has become even more frustrating for me because normally I can get by by reading lips, but now that isn’t possible. Facial expressions play a big role when communicating with ASL. With the mask on our faces, I can only see eyes and eyebrows which makes it impossible to see facial expressions. Sometimes people have the urge to pull their mask down to try and communicate with me, but that makes me even more nervous. I rather they keep their mask on and communicate with me via pen and paper.
I normally type in the “Notes” on my phone to communicate what I need”. Zusi expressed the same issue with masks that Raven did, “ I find it hard to understand what people are saying sometimes. I hate asking them to repeat themselves over and over again because I do not want to seem like a burden. When I do not hear someone correctly, I just say “yeah” to make it seem like I am following along with what they are saying.
I do not know anyone right now in my friendship circle that is hard of hearing. I was very curious to know how people around them treat them. When asked about how patient people are about her condition Raven said the following, “People tend to lose patience in trying to communicate with me, I’m not sure the reasoning. I know COVID-19 has everyone on edge. I try to not go outside often, and if I do I know exactly what I need to do or get so that I don’t have to talk with anyone.”
As a follow up question, I asked them how school/work has been going in relation to wearing masks. “Most of my classes are online, so I do not go to class in person and have to deal with professors wearing masks”, Zusi said. “ I am currently working from home. All of my work is done via emails, Video Relay Services (Deaf people use Video Phone to call non-ASL signers via an interpreter), and zoom. All of my clients that I work with and my co-workers are Deaf, so I don’t have much issues with masks while working from home”, said Raven. For their online classes/work, I was intrigued to know whether professors and employers made the effort to put closed captions on their screens. Raven told me, “For work, I do have training and meetings with hearing domestic violence agencies. We have advocated for our clients and done outreach to hearing agencies explaining about Deaf culture and needs that the hearing agencies provide interpreters for their meetings and training”.
This was good to hear because it shows that her workforce recognizes the issues faced by most of them. Zusi’s institution on the other hand, has not provided closed captions for her lectures, “I talked to the professors in my class about my disability. I asked them whether they would be able to put closed captions during lectures but they came back to me and said that putting closed captions on lectures is a lot more complicated than it seems. Since I can still get by without closed captions, I decided to let go of the matter. I do feel that placing closed captions on videos should not be as complicated to accommodate those hard of hearing. I hope that in the future it is easier to place these closed captions.”
While on the topic of closed captions, I asked these ladies whether they watched the presidential debate. I had been seeing a lot of tik toks surface about the lack of ASL interpreters at the event, i wanted to know how this affected them. Raven said, “I honestly couldn’t watch the whole debate. It was very difficult to follow the closed captions, especially when all the speakers were speaking at once. The closed captions were also delayed. It gave me a headache, so I turned it off and got my updates from social media. Closed captions are not enough. Deaf people need ASL interpreters. English is not everyone’s first language. Only providing closed captions is not 100% accessible. Zusi said that she did not watch the presidential debate. She just waited to see the highlights on social media.
To round things up, I asked them what society can do better to accommodate the deaf community. Raven suggested, “I suggest people learn basic ASL. One day of your life you will end up having to communicate with a Deaf person. There should be a mandatory budget that is for accommodating people with disabilities. People should know the ADA law and follow it. Be open to learning and have patience. Zusi says, “It would be nice for sign language interpreters to be present at events, it would also be nice for sign language to be taught in schools just like they teach French and Spanish as another language. The pandemic really exposed a lot of flaws of the system and the deaf community has fallen victim to it”. I also believe that sign language should be taught in schools, I didn’t realize how badly masks affected other people. Whenever I heard people complain about masks, it was always the people saying that masks are uncomfortable to wear and how masks are taking away their human rights. There are people out there that depend heavily on lip reading and facial expressions to be able to make sense of what someone else is saying. Going forward, I think it is necessary to listen to the voices of the deaf community and accommodate them in our daily lives.
Acknowledgement:
I would like to thank everyone who participated in this study. Thank you Raven Sutton and Zusi Ine for lending your voices to this matter.
Disclaimer:
Please note that the MLA format has been shared with you via email.
Work Cited
Dolmage, Jay. Academic Ableism: Disability and Higher Education. University of Michigan
Press, 2017. https://quod.lib.umich.edu/u/ump/mpub9708722
Engelman, Alina, and Julianna Deardorff. “Cultural Competence Training for Law Enforcement
Responding to Domestic Violence Emergencies With the Deaf and Hard of Hearing: A Mixed-Methods Evaluation.” Health Promotion Practice, vol. 17, no. 2, 2016, pp. 177–185. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/26746781. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020.
Madden, Jaime. “Teaching Online: Issues of Equity and Access in Writing-Centric Formats.”
Feminist Studies, vol. 46, no. 2, 2020, pp. 502–509. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/10.15767/feministstudies.46.2.0502. Accessed 20 Oct. 2020.
USA, center for disease control and prevention. “How to Protect Yourself & Others.” Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2020, www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/prevent-getting-sick/prevention.html.