South Africa has a well-established deaf community and chances are good that you may run into one of its members in the workplace or elsewhere. Communicating with a deaf person may seem daunting but it need not be if you know how to go about it.
How to communicate with deaf persons
Deaf people “hear” and communicate in different ways. Some only use speech or sign language (South Africa has its own customised sigh language, SASL) while others read lips, facial expressions and body language. Some deaf people are able to speak English or other languages. All that is required of us is to make it as easy as possible for them to understand what we are saying so that they can respond! Here are five tips that may help:
Get their attention before you speak
You can wave, tap him or her on the shoulder lightly or use any other visual way to get his or her attention.
Face them when you’re talking
Make sure he or she can see your face clearly. Stand with your face to the light and not in front of a light source such as a window or bright light. Glare or shadows on your face will make lip reading extremely difficult. Stand still while you’re talking, look directly at the person you are speaking to and maintain eye contact. If you are giving a lecture or teaching a class, avoid turning away to write on the board or pull something from a file while speaking. Speak directly to the deaf person even when an interpreter is present.
Speak clearly and naturally
Speak clearly and slightly slower than usual but keep it natural. Any unnatural exaggeration or overemphasis of words may distort natural lip movements and make speech or lip reading more difficult. Do not cover your face and mouth with your hands or put anything in your mouth, for the same reason. Use short sentences as they are easier to understand. If the person looks puzzled and does not understand what you are saying, first repeat as they may only have missed one or two words the first time, then try to rephrase.
Use visual cues and aids
A deaf person’s primary channel for receiving information is vision! Now is not the time to feel embarrassed about pointing to what you’re talking about, using gestures and facial expressions to support your communication or even acting out what you are trying to say. If you are teaching a class or giving a lecture, use as many visual aids as possible. However, give the deaf person time to look, read and process before speaking and forcing them to concentrate on reading your lips. Also remember that what may be difficult to communicate verbally may be explained easily by a hands-on demonstration. And, if all else fails, make use of the written word; getting the message across is more important than the medium used.
Clarify the topic of a discussion or conversation
Deaf people need to clearly understand and know what subject matter is or will be discussed in a conversation, class or meeting. It helps them to pick up words that will help them follow the conversation. If the topic being discussed is new, with new terms and a special vocabulary, they will find it extremely difficult to keep up. Clarify the topic in advance with the help of a brief outline of what is going to be discussed and some of the new terms and words to be used, written on paper, a chalkboard, or an overhead projector. It will also help a lot if questions or statements made by people from the back of the room, outside their visual area, are repeated by the person in front.
Sources
Berke, J. 2014. Deaf community – South Africa. Retrieved from: http://deafness.about.com
Eleven tips for communicating with a deaf child. Retrieved from: http://www.ndcs.org.uk
Tips for communicating with deaf and hard-of-hearing people. 2012. Retrieved from: http://www.virginianavigator.org