Hearing Impaired Sussex 12-Year-Old Campaigns To Improve Deaf Awareness

A deaf Sussex boy is campaigning to make Sussex more deaf aware, with support from the National Deaf Children's Society.

Austin Goddard, 12, from Lancing, who is severely to profoundly deaf, had the inspiration for his campaign because he uses a taxi to get to and from school and was unable to communicate with the driver who was wearing a face mask.

Thanks to funding from the National Deaf Children's Society's Make a Change Fund and the support of Brighton, Hove and West Sussex Deaf Children's Society, Austin is offering deaf awareness 'goody bags' to organisations and companies throughout the region, to make them more aware of how to communicate well with deaf people.

The response to Austin's awareness campaign has been positive and so far he has given his goody bags to local schools, hospital children's wards and taxi and transport companies.

The goody bags contain top tips for communicating with deaf people while wearing a face mask, instructions on how to sign some basic words and phrases, plus a see-through face mask to make lip-reading easier.

The majority of face masks are not transparent, making lip-reading and the understanding of facial expressions much more difficult, causing huge communication difficulties for deaf people.

Austin has previously written to the Prime Minister, explaining that the majority of face mask makes communication with deaf people very difficult and asking the PM to wear a see-through mask.

Austin's campaign also received a boost when Tim Loughton, MP for East Worthing and Shoreham, offered his support, having been sent a copy of Austin's letter to the PM.

Mr Loughton promised to tell the PM about the importance of clear face masks and to do what he could to speed up the process of distributing clear face masks to staff in local hospitals.

Commenting on his campaign, Austin said:

"My taxi driver has to wear a face mask but it covers up his mouth, so I can't understand what he's saying. It makes me sad but it got me thinking.

"That's why I made the goody bags. I just thought it would be nice if everyone could communicate a bit better, then I wouldn't feel so lonely. Anyone who wants one can have one!

"It's important for deaf people to see lips and I'd like everyone to wear a see-through mask."

Austin's mum Justine backed his call:

"I'm very proud of Austin for raising this important issue. Austin was encouraged and praised by some local schools and taxi firms, who were extremely grateful and ready to support his campaign, so thank you to them, but I'm still a little disappointed that there has been initial resistance from some quarters.

"Deaf people rely on lip-reading and facial expressions and a smile can speak a thousand words. If we make clear masks much more widely available, it will make a world of difference to deaf people like Austin."

Nicola Partridge, of the National Deaf Children's Society's Make a Change team, said:

"I want to congratulate Austin on his fantastic campaign to make his local community as accessible as possible for deaf young people. We hope everyone takes note of the need for good communication with deaf people.

"As Austin points out, the issue of face coverings is crucially important right now, and something that the UK's 50,000 deaf children are having to deal with each and every day.

"This issue needs to be addressed urgently. In the meantime, there are so many simple things that people can do to demonstrate good deaf awareness, such as using gestures, writing things down - and of course wearing a clear face mask."