Challenges introduced by the pandemic layer on an extra difficulty for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Advocates at the university and community level have been working to combat lack of access to resources, communication and accommodation that have left 1.1 million Arizonans confused, isolated and even scared, said Sherri Collins, executive director of the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing (ACDHH).
“When COVID-19 first began ramping up in Arizona, the Arizona Commission for the Deaf and the Hard of Hearing began fielding more requests and concerns about how the deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind may gain accurate and timely information on COVID-19,” Collins said, “which is why it was important we came together and be more proactive, rather than reactive during a time of crisis.”
As Governor Doug Ducey’s office began holding joint press conferences with the Arizona Department of Health Services, important information did not make it to these citizens because broadcast footage did not adequately show the American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter, according to Collins.
Over the course of the pandemic Collins said this has improved.
“We worked with the broadcast stations and now, in the Governor’s press conferences, when an interpreter is present, there is always an ASL interpreter on screen,” Collins said. “Most recently, one of the networks showed the interpreter on a split-screen, which helped immensely in being able to clearly see what was being communicated in ASL.”
Despite this, Collins said members of the deaf and hard of hearing community still lack access to the same information as their peers.
“Public Service Announcements, City and Council board meetings, or video updates from our state and local government entities either do not have captions or an American Sign Language interpreter,” Collins said.
Elizabeth Martin is a member of the deaf and hard of hearing community and a consultant for the Student Accessibility and Learning Services at ASU. She said she understands that students are frustrating at dealing with these unexpected hurdles that the pandemic has now presented when it comes to learning.
“I’ve had students who have been going to school for three or four years and didn’t need accommodations until now,” Martin said. “A lot of students like to have independence and so when that suddenly changes and they don’t have that full independence, it can be very frustrating.”
Martin’s work mainly centers around ensuring that all ASU students who contact SAILS have their needs for accommodation and accessibility to learning met.
“We work with all of our students virtually now and help them that way,” Martin said. “Every student’s needs are specific and different. We try to work with them in the best way for them.”
Technical problems, time management struggles and lagging self-motivation are all an extra-thick layer of frustration for these students, said Collins.
“Zoom has the awesome feature of captioning,” Martin said. “It may not be accurate, but it can help — not just with deaf and hard of hearing students, but all students love that feature.”
Additional accommodations must be made because Zoom captions, according to Martin, is not compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) due to some of the captions not being fully accurate.
Requests for Communication, Access, Real-Time Translation (CART), a kind of captioning that SAILS provided pre-pandemic, have gone up, according to Martin.
The number of students registered with SAILS went up by 13.6% this year. These students, according to a statement from the SAILS office, thus gain “Communication Access” services which include CART.
One challenge still looming ahead at the university level is mask-wearing when returning to in-person instruction.
“We depend so much on facial expressions. We depend so much on lip reading,” Martin said. “Wearing masks limits our ability to interact. What SAILS has done is providing clear masks to faculty who have deaf or hard of hearing students in the classroom to help with that.”
Doctor of Audiology, Clinical Associate Professor and Program Director at ASU’s College of Health Solutions, Erica Williams, said that hard of hearing students in programs she is involved with had trouble communicating with faculty and other students.
“Our students are in a cohort together all day long during lectures and labs, so we wanted to be able to help out with this situation and advocate for our students as we do for our patients while keeping everyone safe,” Williams said. “I arranged with the College of the Health Solutions for the purchase of the humanity shields for the students in the cohort, and the faculty and TA’s for their courses.”
Humanity shields, according to Rapid Response PPE’s website, are reusable and washable alternatives to masks and face shields designed to combine the “respiratory droplet control of a mask with the effectiveness of a face shield.”
In May, the ACDHH began searching for a company to partner with in order to make clear masks more accessible to the community, said Collins.
By July, she said, the organization partnered with the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors to “secure and distribute” 30 thousand clear masks to the Arizona community through the “Clear Masks equal Clear Communication campaign.”
Although communication can be difficult, both Martin and Collins stressed that now more than ever is the time for patience.
“Don’t treat us any differently,” Martin said. “If you have a clear mask, don’t over-enunciate. Just talk normally and be as normal as you can – that’s what we want.”
Contact the reporter at kcdorman@asu.edu.
