Meera Modi - Guest post #5

What are some of the everyday challenges you face as a deaf person?

Deaf people have a lot to deal with: not being able to hear well means we have difficulties in following what people are saying, especially in group situations, listening to music is problematic, following announcements at airports and train stations... the list goes on! I will explain some things I have to face:

I rely on London's Underground to get to work every day and to meet friends; when there are announcements on speakers at the train station or at the airport about delays or a change of platform/terminal, I am usually on my own and since I cannot hear I have to try and ask someone, either a member of staff or a member of the general public. I may be slower than other people when it comes to realising that there has been a change, but I am never frightened; I just hope that I notice quickly. I find that whoever I ask for information is usually helpful.

Being a driver and not being able to hear, I rely much more on visual information. Deaf people are unable to hear when the emergency services are coming up behind us, so must be extra vigilant at all times. When other drivers or passengers are verbally abusive we may not catch what they are trying to say. So it may be that we ignore people who randomly speak to us because it could turn into an awkward situation. We might seem rude to other people if we do this, but it's usually a form of self-protection.

In the work environment, people underestimate the amount of interaction through informal chats at the coffee machine, photocopier or after meetings, in the corridor, hall or in the lifts. I believe this is how a great deal of information is passed on. People talking about their holidays (useful to know if people from the office are going to be away), people talking about leaving early, chatting about their moods and how they are. As I cannot access any of this information, I have had to develop my own coping strategies. For example, I get on with people naturally so I hope that in this way, I manage to get plenty of information and am not missing anything. At university, I felt I was not getting all the information I could get - for example when people came out of the lecture rooms and discussed things, perhaps about bits I missed in the lecture. So I developed coping strategies which I have carried over into the work environment.

I have to ensure people know I am here and make an effort to communicate visually: for example, saying hello in the morning to make sure they know I am here. I have to show open approaches, (even on mornings when I may not feel like it!).

Being deaf is difficult to explain as everyone has different experiences, but it could be compared to being like a foreigner in a strange land. You don't understand everything that is being said around you, and you might be reluctant to do things because of unknown risks. You might not want to say something for fear of seeming ignorant or having people not understand you. You might feel isolated if other people are laughing at a joke and you did not catch the punchline.

I also encounter the minor difficulty of not being able to hear people say "Excuse me," when in shops or such public places. When this happens, these people tap me on the shoulder and may seem annoyed, not understanding why I am not responding. My response is to explain calmly why I did not hear. Some people apologise, some people are embarrassed and respond awkwardly by giving me the cold shoulder. When I am with hearing people, they often have to tell me that I need to move, which I do so and apologise.

In my work role, I have obvious difficulties with companies or people that require me to call them when making enquiries. It is rare for me to make calls; if I have to, I use my interpreter or my family to make calls. People may find it strange or difficult liaising with me via an interpreter, but it is simply an alternative method of communication. There is Typetalk, where a third person intervenes, but I find this service very cumbersome. I prefer to use emails where possible.

It can be tiring when dealing with people who may not understand my speech; the amount of concentration required over a sustained amount of time is more exhausting than you might expect. I remember an incident at school where someone accidentally set off the fire alarm in the night. Everyone in the sixth form had to go outside and it took some time to assemble. Our head teacher was concerned because we spend all day having to concentrate so closely on our teachers, that we sleep more deeply than hearing people (in general), and that if it had been a real alarm, we could have been in real danger. The point of this story is that concentrating on people's speech is more tiring for deaf people than it is for hearing people; listening to people comes naturally to hearing people, but for deaf people, it is a different effort.

Speaking of fire alarms, when in public places, if the fire alarm goes off I am not always aware of it; I watch the people around me for their reactions. For example, if I see a crowd of people heading one way, I may wonder where they are going and follow them. This may apply in the workplace, airports, train stations, bus stations - anywhere an alarm can go off, alerting the passers by while I may be oblivious.

Although these are my everyday challenges, I have always had the determination to get through and I have been coping with these challenges for a long time. Every deaf person gets used to it and does not allow these matters to frustrate them.