With masks made mandatory in Melbourne and Mitchell Shire from Wednesday 11:59pm, anxiety is high amongst deaf and hard of hearing people. 1/12
#MaskUpMelbourne #WearAMask

This is because we’re anxious about our ability to communicate with other people whilst at shops, chemists, health related appointments, and out in the community. 2/12

When we communicate with people wearing face masks, our ability to lip-read is taken away. It doesn’t matter if we’re wearing hearing aids or cochlear implants, our ability to lip-read is still taken away because face masks cover your mouth. 3/12

This leaves us feeling vulnerable, powerless, scared, alone, and frustrated. This will have an impact on our mental health. 4/12

So if you encounter a deaf or hard of hearing person, please meet halfway with them. Listen to them when they advise you how to communicate with them. Don’t be aggressive with them – that will make them feel even more anxious and scared. 5/12

Be adaptable to meet their communication needs. Keep an open mind.

If they use their device to communicate with you, use your device to respond to their enquiry, questions, etc. 6/12

There are text to speech apps available such as Live Transcribe (Android), Otter (both iOS and Android), and quite a few others. If a deaf/hard of hearing person uses one of those apps so they can understand you, be prepared to speak clearly and articulately. 7/12

These apps are close to accurate, although errors can occur. 8/12

For deaf and hard of hearing people who use Auslan (or other sign language used in your country), they will prefer to communicate using an app to type notes on their device. Your device will have a similar app, use that to communicate with them. 9/12

They may book an Auslan interpreter to communicate with you. The Auslan interpreter will be displayed on their device via FaceTime, Skype, Zoom or other video calling platform. 10/12

Talk to the deaf person like you would with any other person, and they will respond in Auslan which will then be interpreted into English. 11/12

Deaf and hard of hearing people reading this, you can download graphic cards from Deaf Victoria – https://www.deafvictoria.org.au/coronavirus  12/12