Bridging the Gap Between the Hearing & Deaf Worlds
Even though it’s not visible (like many things related to deaf awareness), audism is a major within society and it remains a major issue for anyone who is experiencing some kind of deafness. Yet it’s rarely ever talked about compared other discriminations and prejudices.
So what is audism and what should be aware?
When it comes to the general perception of people with disability, it is normally looked with a negative context i.e. their “medical condition” is causing the barriers. However, a better approach would be to look at the barriers as the cause of society rather than because of the person.
But that can only happen if we adjust our mindset towards disability.
Learn about the differences between social and medical of disability here
The question ‘which sign language should I learn first?’ is a common one for those who wants to go on that journey of learning it. And that is great.
By asking that question, it is hoped that you are looking to learn sign language for the right reason (communicate with deaf people) and not for social klouts like attention and because “it looks pretty”.
This post will help guide the way for you.
As someone who has had countless audiology appointments for decades, it hasn’t always been a smooth process.
While it’s easier to blame the audiologist and the entire department, it’s true that they have their parts to play. But we as patients can also do our bit to make the whole audiology experience a more seamless and effective.
Learn how to make the most out of yoru audiology appointments here
Even though there are various ways describing someone who have some kind of deafness, a common choice of phrasings is “hearing impaired/impairment”.
On most occasions, I don’t believe there are bad intentions. Still, it’s time we stop using those words, particularly as we tend to frown upon those phrases and there are better choices of words to choose from.
When on a video call, and if available, I tend to take advantage of the automatic subtitles to help get through the call, and most deaf people would do the same.
But automatic subtitles are not perfect. They’re not terrible, but they’re not perfect. However, there are steps everyone can take to make it as accurate as possible and make it easier for the technology to pick up the words.
Since face masks is currently part of the everyday norm and it’s common to see it in our daily routines now, this has raised the issue of how it can make it difficult for deaf people to lip read and to communicate.
Even there are so many different types of face masks out there, I have yet to see those wearing the see-through clear face masks where you can see the other person’s lips. This makes it easier to lip read, see their emotions and facial expressions, and generally make it easier to communicate.
And this applies, not just to deaf people, but to everyone too.
Even though video calls and events have been around for many years, the pandemic has forced many organisers to consider making their events, which are normally offline and in-person, as a virtual event instead.
Conferences, meetings, lectures, workshops, performances…they are all affected.
But deaf attendees are often forgotten about or ignored, so this post will look at how to make virtual events deaf accessible.
Learn how to organise and run deaf accessible virtual events here
There are so many barriers that we could focus on when it comes to deaf awareness.
But since it’s Deaf Awareness Week in the UK (as of 4th-10th May 2020), there is one particular topic that I wanted to focus in light of it being a popular trend.
