Face coverings have been “huge challenge” for deaf people
The National Deaf Children’s Society has responded to the Government’s decision to lift most Covid-19 restrictions in England, including face coverings, from July 19th.
Ian Noon, Head of Policy at the National Deaf Children’s Society, said:
“Public health has rightly been the priority, but face coverings have been a huge challenge for many deaf people across the country. Almost of all them rely on lip reading in some way, so face coverings lead to an exhausting daily battle just to understand what others were saying.
“Even after changes in guidance, significant barriers still remain. We still don’t have clear face coverings for healthcare appointments and they’re likely to be widespread on public transport for some time. As deaf schoolchildren work hard to catch-up, they may well come up against them in the classroom, on the school bus and at break times.
“Until face coverings are a thing of the past, we’d urge everyone speaking to a deaf person to be patient, think about different ways to communicate and show good deaf awareness.”
For more information, please contact the National Deaf Children’s Society media team on 020 7014 1146/1149, rob.white@ndcs.org.uk or 07595 780 411 (outside of office hours).
The National Deaf Children’s Society
- The National Deaf Children’s Society is the leading charity dedicated to creating a world without barriers for deaf children and their families.
- Three babies are born deaf in the UK every day.
- There are more than 50,000 deaf children in the UK. We help them thrive by providing impartial, practical and emotional support, and by challenging governments and society to meet their needs.
- For more information on our work please, visit www.ndcs.org.uk.
- For further support, parents, deaf children and deaf young people can contact us via our Helpline on 0808 800 8880 (voice and text), on InterpreterNow (interpreternow.co.uk/ndcs), by email on helpline@ndcs.org.uk or through online chat at www.ndcs.org.uk/livechat.
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