Be Considerate of Others writes:
Everyone has understood (and in most cases accepted) the rationale for wearing masks during this Covid-19 outbreak.Sadly though, what few people (especially those in power who laid down the various lockdown rules) seem to have forgotten about is the deaf and hard-of-hearing members of society, who rely on lip-reading to understand what someone is saying to them.
If the speaker is wearing a transparent face-shield, without an accompanying mask, that is fine – the lips are visible.
However, any other form of mouth covering, be that a mask or scarf for instance, the speaker’s lips are not visible.
Do we perhaps expect lip-readers to now carry with them, and produce as often as required, some sort of sign indicating their need to read lips?
It is surely bad enough being handicapped with hearing loss without being stigmatised?
Perhaps some lip-reading Express readers would care to let others know how they are coping?
It is acceptable that TV news stations caption what has been said when screening a recorded insert, for example when it is not a live broadcast, but when, for example, members of government are speaking live in an interview, there is no simultaneous captioning, so those with little or no hearing do not have a clue what is being said.
