I CAN'T HEAR YOU : THE CRY OF A FORGOTTEN GROUP IN A MASKED WORLD.

Some few weeks ago, I found myself in need of a service. I needed an internet recharge bundle so, I had no option but to go to the office  for a refill. Yes, we still go to most offices to get some services done. If at all there is an e-commerce section, I am not aware of because, I have never really seen it.

So, I was in this office, I have done the needful before going in, sanitize, put on the mask etc and walked in, standing at a safe distance from the person ahead.

It was soon my turn to be served. I took out my mask so I could talk for others to hear me. For the time I was standing there, the person attending to me was talking but I may as well have been in a different planet. I was hearing zero. All attempts to signal her to at least write or take off her mask so I could read and understand or read her lips proved futile.

Suddenly, another lady, a kind of boss perhaps comes towards me, shouting I put on my mask. She had her mask on and I was hearing zilch. Her gesture after a while of confusion, made me understand that is what she was implying. What do I do? I wished I could really put on my mask and communicate behind it easily like every other person. My confusion was evident, so much so that, I took a piece of paper and wrote something, apologizing to the person serving me and explaining my predicament. And I found myself thinking relax! I am not coming to infect you with the virus. I just wish I can hear you and be heard!!

Well, that seemed to work as after that, I wore my mask and communication took on some kind of exotic sign language only the two of us could understand with hands and face gestures flapping ever which way.

That incident sadly, is not the first or the last that has had a toll on me this time of COVID 19. Almost everyday in my dealing with someone, I have to smile sadly behind my mask, wishing I could talk like everyone else without a million thoughts flowing through my mind, wondering how I could get them, politely tell them to momentarily take off their masks so I hear what they say.

Being hearing impaired and dependable on lip reading to communicate, I feel like people like me have been forgotten in a masked world.

Of course, we understand the need to put on the masks. We understand the importance of safety measures and just how huge a role masks play in that regard. But still, we also understand that life will go on and we need to be able to read lips to go about life like every other person.

Taking off the masks each time we have to converse to make sure we are heard when we speak or praying and hoping someone understands to either write while we talk or temporarily takes down their masks is tasking.

At work, some of my colleagues are mindful now. After a repeated \"I can't hear you\" behind the mask, some are conscious to take it off when talking to me. But for others, it remains a daily \"I can't hear you\" behind the mask.

And I go on to think; most times, when somethings are manufactured, the deaf and hearing impaired are left out and it doesn't become a thing until we are forced to use the same thing like everyone else. It doesn't become a thing until in using it, we are forced to navigate our way around it and in frustration, speak out. It doesn't become a thing until our frustration lends us a voice and attempts are made to accomodate us.

In a discussion on masks usage, I spoke about this a lot and each time, there is a road block. This is because, whatever innovative way masks get made, it has to be such that everyone around us is using that kind of mask.

 I saw an innovative idea of a lady, thinking about the deaf and hearing impaired, who made a mask with a transparent cover. This helps us and others using it communicate easy without the need to take it off. The transparent cover makes it possible to read the lips, communicate and stay safe. Laudable but still limiting.

I was intrigued and wished I had it. But here is another thing: even if I had it, the people around me must also have them for communication to flow easy.

I feel when measures are taken into consideration, the needs of a segment of the population, the one I find myself in, are not met. It is important for decision makers and those at the helm to be all inclusive in decisions they make. Ok, everyone has to wear mask. That is good. How does it affect those who depend on lip reading to communicate? What measures are we taking to make sure these decisions are highly inclusive of all? I think these are questions decision makers ought to be asking themselves.

And for as long as this pandemic goes on, I believe this will be the cry of the deaf and hearing impaired community: We can't hear you behind your masks!