Blog Post #1 - Communication News Story

https://marshfield.wickedlocal.com/news/20200609/for-deaf-community-covid-19-presents-unique-problems

This article discusses the difficulties that the deaf community is facing during this unprecedented time in which people are expected to wear face masks in a variety of public places. Over the past couple of months, we've all learned how valuable face masks could be; not just keeping ourselves safe, but also all those around us.  For most, it hasn't been much of an issue.  Thankfully, we still have our hearing and can communicate with ease.  For others, it is definitely not the same.  Those with hearing impairments or members of the deaf community may face extreme difficulties when venturing out of their houses.  

The article highlights incidents in which deaf individuals couldn't hear when someone was talking to them in a store or people are not being patient with them. It also talks about how those utilizing ASL are struggling to effectively communicate with those in their community due to not being able to see facial expressions and other non-manual markers that play a pertinent part in understanding the context of a particular sign.  

 While masks are the most obvious issue that members of the deaf community are facing during this difficult time, it is important to remember that even some alternatives these individuals are trying are proving too difficult, as well.  With social distancing rules in place and masks evolving into the new norm, speech to text apps have been picking up muffled sound and producing faulty translations.  The same thing is true for those who use hearing aids.  People are not displaying patience when dealing with these individuals which tends to lead to frustration on both ends.  The added need to constantly have a smartphone that can provide speech to text assistance is another worry these people have to constantly consider.  This option is not cheap for some, while others are lucky to have technology and ample devices available at fingertips reach.  

As someone who just finished taking ASL at HPU I understand the different challenges people who are hard of hearing face in their day to day lives and now I can't even begin to imagine how that challenge has just gotten 10x harder to navigate.  It really doesn't help when others don't show patience and belittle these individuals.  They already feel as if their independence has been compromised so the least we could do as a society is take some time to slow down and attempt to comprehend what they're trying to relay.