Deaf Awareness Week: How to communicate inclusively

For Deaf Awareness Week, Dhana McIver, a solicitor and disability officer at Balfour + Manson who is also profoundly deaf, discusses the extent of hearing loss across the UK and what we can all do to communicate in a more inclusive way.

A phrase regularly directed to my two sons is “there’s only room for one deaf person in this house and that spot has been filled”.

I am going to have to stop saying that, because over 12 million people in the UK are deaf or have hearing loss and that number is increasing all the time. Chances are, they too will have some degree of hearing loss in their lifetime (especially at the volume they blare their music, but I digress). Also, that phrase makes it sound like deaf or hard of hearing people are not welcome in our house and, of course, nothing could be farther from the truth!

This week is Deaf Awareness Week (6 to 12 May). The public awareness of deafness and hard of hearing is greater now than it has ever been, but there is still much to do to really drive home inclusion and acceptance.

The fact is, it is still a hidden disability and it is up to the individual to choose to declare it. We don’t know if the person we are speaking to on the phone or the customer service representative assisting us in a shop is deaf or hard of hearing.

Let’s throw some numbers out there:

• As stated, there are over 12 million people in the UK who are deaf or hard of hearing.
• This will increase to over 15.6 million people by 2035. Yep, that’s 1 in 5 people!
• Of that 12 million figure, at least 4.4 million people are of working age and less than 100,000 were born with deafness or hearing loss.
• 100,000 people are British Sign Language (BSL) users, though this is increasing all the time.
  • In Scotland we have the BSL (Scotland) Act 2015, which makes it a legal requirement for the Scottish Government and public bodies to promote and encourage the use and understanding of BSL. We can all do it! You may have seen that there is a drive to include BSL in in primary and secondary education, and I am seeing courses advertised all the time now for various levels of BSL. It takes roughly seven years of training to become fluent so the sooner this training starts, the better. For myself I have just done an introduction course to BSL and can’t wait to progress through the levels.

Expressive communication. Body language, facial expressions, and eye contact. Keep your lips clear and beards neatly trimmed as the person you are speaking to may be a lip-reader. Make sure you have the person’s attention before you start speaking. Don’t shout. Speak clearly and at a normal pace. Don’t exaggerate your speech patterns by going too slow or too fast.

The number one thing not to do? Don’t say “never mind” when someone asks you to repeat yourself. Re-phrase what you said. I always travel with a notepad and pen now; you never know when you might need it in a conversation.

Next time you are in a coffee shop, a shopping centre or a restaurant – take a few minutes and observe the people around you. Watch how they are communicating. See if you can lip-read! You’ll be surprised to notice how many letters and numbers look alike on a person’s lips.

For example, ‘m’ ‘p’ ‘b’. Then there’s sounds like ‘sh’ ‘ch’ and ‘ju’. See if you can pick out the following words: ‘baby’ and ‘maybe’. For numbers, see if you can tell the difference between 13 and 30, or 14 and 40 for example.

As a lip-reader myself, I can unequivocally confirm that it is exhausting and takes a lot of concentration to work out what a person is saying. Telephones and accents are a nightmare.

I would encourage all deaf and hard of hearing people to advocate for themselves. If you’ve received sub-standard customer service, please do speak up. We can’t change things if we stay quiet.

There are some excellent resources out there for further reading and education. Here are three to get you started:

• Deaf Umbrella is a fantastic resource for communication tips (including the BSL alphabet). Subscribe to their newsletter!
• Deaf Action is a deaf-led charity that supports and celebrates deaf people.
• Sign Health is a charity working to improve deaf people’s health and wellbeing.

Have a wonderful time celebrating Deaf Awareness Week and please do reach out to me if you have any questions or comments.