Visual Clues

Hearing loss and stereotyping

When my hair used to be half way down my back (with only white highlights) a police officer called to me from behind, “excuse me Miss.” I turned so he could see my manly body (insert laughter), beard and moustache and replied, “One of us appears to be confused.”

Just as he expected flowing locks (oh, I have such fun here) to indicate a female it seems that the hearing aid industry expect only mature people lose their hearing.

While leafing through a hearing aid ad magazine last week I was struck by how the ‘deaf people’ were old, while the employees who’d got some hobby worth mentioning were young. Shame, as we know hearing impairment affects all ages, although age-related deafness might be the most common cause.

As we all know, deafness is the invisible disability and as hearing aids become less obvious, the problem becomes less visible. I can get rather militant when people are inconsiderate about Sue’s hearing and occasionally struggle not to be offensive – it may tick me off, but ticking them off won’t help, education is better than browbeating.

If you’ve watched the programmes made for hard of hearing viewers you’ll have seen the wide range of ages affected by hearing loss, but how many folk without hearing loss in their family watch those late night programmes.

In the Sixties the very popular programme specifically designed for deaf children, ‘Vision On’, helped integrate the deaf and hearing worlds through the universal appeal of art. Years later ‘Sesame Street’ introduced a regular (human) character who couldn’t hear. Both programmes featured signing as well as careful and considerate speech methods.

To see where Wallace and Gromit came from take a look at:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/ouch/2012/07/vision_on_deaf_children_gromit.html

Since then, from what I gather, programming for deaf children has increased (am I right?) and younger people are often the most considerate age group about other folk’s hearing difficulties. But are deaf young folk being treated with enough consideration?

Those clues that someone has a hearing impairment will keep diminishing as technology improves, so is it better to wear a badge with the red line through an ear rather than risk confusion with strangers? Belting them round the face with a stale baguette may be deserved, but it won’t help in the long run.

What’s the opinion on badges and could they make children feel ‘different’ or as if they’re apologising – which, of course, they shouldn’t?