COVID-19 seemingly came from out of nowhere and transformed American life as we knew it.  Suddenly places of public accommodations were closed for extended amounts of time.  The word ‘lockdown’ entered our daily vocabulary.  Medical masks became a mainstay.  Schools shuttering their doors and turned to asynchronous learning, places of employment either transitioning to telecommuting or shutting down completely, and hospitals closing their door to anything that wasn’t deemed a medical emergency are just a few of the major changes we experienced during this uncertain time. 

While we are currently nearing a light at the end of the tunnel in terms of COVID-19, and life as we know it is seeming to return to normal, we are left to look at the impact that COVID-19 had on Deaf individuals.

The Negative Impact of Masks on Communication

While now more is known about COVID-19 and its effect on health, when the virus first hit, you could not escape news about how it was ripping through our country leaving a wake of deaths in its path. Medical masks became required in nearly every place of public accommodation, including stores, hospitals, doctors offices, and jobs.  This created a whole host of issues for Deaf or hard of hearing individuals. 

Masks are worn around the ears, but so are hearing aids.  Many hard of hearing individuals who employ the use of hearing aids struggled with the addition around the ear.  Some hard of hearing individuals found that loop masks increased discomfort around the ear and some even lost their hearing aids due to interference from masks when taking them off and on. While these seem trivial in nature, hearing aids are incredibly expensive and the last thing you want to do is lose them.  Some recommendations were to look into the tie behind head masks and make sure to remove your mask in a safe space like your car or home so that if your hearing aid did get  lost at least you know where they would likely be. 

Another negative impact of the implementation of masks is that many Deaf individuals use lip reading as a way of communication. With masks covering the speaker’s faces, lip reading became impossible.  Those of us in communication and who support the Deaf Community immediately began to make arrangements for clear masks as an accommodation so that lip readers would be able to effectively communicate with hearing individuals. Another accommodation that was implemented during COVID-19, specifically for hard of hearing individuals, was to speak loudly and slow your pacing.

Negative impacts of Social Distancing on Deaf Culture

Deaf culture is a diverse and unique culture whose foundation is built on specific ideals.  One of those ideals is that Deaf individuals have different, but equal perspectives on certain subjects, specifically the way they communicate.  Social and behavioral norms within Deaf culture include maintaining eye contact, touching during conversations, and hugging when greeting or leaving.  COVID-19’s mandated six feet of distance during the early and middle stages of the pandemic negatively impacted Deaf community norms.  Deaf individuals were not able to get close enough to their friends or colleagues, eliminating behavioral norms like tapping another’s shoulder, touching during conversations, or hugging.  

Negative impacts on Deaf school children

When COVID-19 hit, those who were impacted the most were school aged children.  Asynchronous learning was the first stepping stone in providing online instruction for students, however Deaf students had no way of accessing instructional materials with this service model. There were no accommodations provided for these students, and as such, they were unable to communicate with their teacher or classmates.  Any sign language interpreters that were with Deaf students in person were not permitted to attend the student’s home, leaving the student to watch online lessons with the teacher and a sign language interpreter in the background. 

Thankfully with the rollouts of virtual meeting platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft teams, communication barriers were broken down and the process of interpretation was streamlined with real-life captioning in the lesson.  Granted, the captioning was not always up to ADA standards, where 99% of the captioning must be correct, but it provided an effective communication method for Deaf students who were finally able to participate in their online classroom.

Negative impacts on Deaf individuals in the workplace

Again, at the beginning of COVID-19 many businesses began to allow workers to telecommute and work from home.  This could be seen as beneficial for many Deaf employees who can use virtual meetings to read transcribed conversations between colleagues and respond in written form.  However, if a Deaf person was working in a retail or food service industry, the face mask requirement most likely created a negative impact in their day-to-day communication with colleagues and customers.  

Negative impacts on Deaf individuals in healthcare

The changes implemented in healthcare environments affected many Americans, including the Deaf and hard of hearing.  The biggest impact would be the implementation of personal protective equipment like masks, gloves, and capacity requirements.  For instance, if a Deaf individual caught COVID-19, the hospital, due to visitor restrictions, would not be able to provide that individual with a sign language interpreter, greatly reducing the accommodations that a Deaf individual can use within a hospital environment.  However, it still leaves the patient and provider with real time transcriptions or written communication to communicate effectively.  The masks worn by hospital personnel would also have a negative impact on Deaf or hard of hearing individuals that rely on residual hearing or lip reading to communicate effectively.  By masking your mouth, you have eliminated that method of communication as well.   

Conclusion

COVID-19 impacted Deaf individuals and their ability to bridge communication gaps in their day-to-day life. If you are ever in need of bridging the communication gap and creating an inclusive and accessible environment for all, reach out to Unspoken Language Services, a professional sign language interpreter service.