Deaf awareness

Also called Deaf awareness training, Communication tips for hearing people

What a hearing person needs to do differently around a deaf person, most of which costs nothing and takes no training.

What it is

Deaf awareness is the set of habits a hearing person needs so that a deaf person can follow them: face the person, get their attention before you speak, keep your mouth visible, do not shout, and check rather than assume. It is the difference between a deaf person having a conversation and having to work at one.

Most of it is common sense once it has been pointed out and invisible until it has. The reason it needs a name and a course is that hearing people do not notice what they do with their faces and their timing, and a deaf person spends every day compensating for it.

The word covers everyone from a profoundly Deaf BSL user to an older person with age-related hearing loss and two hearing aids. The adjustments overlap but are not identical, and the first rule of Deaf awareness is to ask the person what works for them.

Who it can help

Every hearing person, and specifically every receptionist, teacher, nurse, care worker, shop assistant and manager who meets the public, because one in six adults in the UK has some hearing loss and most of them are not going to announce it. RNID has the figures, and they are large enough that a service which has never thought about this is failing people every day.

It matters most in the places where being misunderstood costs the most: the GP surgery, the hospital ward, the police station, the school parents' evening. And it matters for the deaf person's family, who often assume that shouting from another room and being answered means they were heard, when the answer was a guess.

How it works

The mechanics are simple and specific. Get attention first, with a wave or a tap on the arm, and wait for the person to look at you. Face them squarely with the light on your face, not behind you; a window behind you turns you into a silhouette. Keep your hands, your mask and your coffee cup away from your mouth. Speak clearly at a normal pace and volume; shouting distorts the lip pattern and the hearing aid alike. Keep a normal rhythm rather than exaggerating.

If a sentence is not understood, say it differently rather than repeating it louder; the word that was missed will be missed again. Write it down if that fails, and have a pen and paper ready without making a performance of it. Cut background noise: turn the radio off, move away from the coffee machine. In a group, one person speaks at a time, and someone signals who is speaking next.

For a BSL user, book a qualified interpreter (see BSL interpreters) and talk to the person, not the interpreter. The Deaf community's own view of hearing people who have never met a Deaf person is patient but not infinitely so, and the British Deaf Association is clear that access to interpreters is a right and not a favour.

Getting started

This week, in any setting: check the lighting where you talk to people, put a notepad by the desk, and put a sign up saying that written communication, a text relay call and a booked interpreter are available. Ask every new person how they prefer to communicate and write it in their record. A hospital passport or a communication passport carries this for someone who cannot say it each time.

Then book a Deaf awareness course. RNID, Deaf Action and the Royal Association for Deaf people all run them for workplaces, usually a half day, often delivered by Deaf trainers, which is the version worth paying for. Learn to fingerspell and a dozen BSL signs; the effort is noticed.

At home with a family member losing their hearing: stop talking from other rooms, turn the television off for conversations, and stop saying "never mind". Those three change more than any device.

Where to get help

RNID for hearing loss of all kinds, including workplace training and free hearing checks. The British Deaf Association for the Deaf community's perspective and BSL. Hearing Link for adults who have lost hearing. The National Deaf Children's Society for schools with a deaf pupil. The Accessible Information Standard sets out what NHS and social care services must do in law.