Mask wearing and deaf people

[sunshinesupermum]

As a deaf person myself I applaud Rose's brilliant achievement. However, when she goes shopping or has medical appointments, do people take off their masks so that she can lip read? In my experience only a few shops like Pets At Home and Waterstones do so. I had to take my cat for an emergency appointment at the vet yesterday and was reliant on my partner coming with me to understand how to treat her. I understand the need for masks, obviously, but most deaf and hard-of-hearing people rely a lot on lip-reading. Rant over. AIBU?

Any patient I have had who tell me they lipread have asked me to de-mask. I wear a visor for any communication but make them aware I need to mask to examine or treat after I've explained what I need to do and got consent. ... Anyone who signs has come with a signer.

You can get masks with transparent panels that let you see the mask-wearer's mouth.

Seriously?

Abso-fucking-lutely.

For example My CEV son ended up in A&E/day patient the other week with (non covid) breathing difficulties. During the cause of the day he came into contact with 4 nurses, 4 doctors. Two days later he came into contact with 2 nurses who came to our home to give a covid booster. They had spent the day visiting CEV individuals.

Any one of those medical professionals removing
their mask in a clinical setting to do a kindness to one person, could have landed a whole string of critically vulnerable people in hospital.

If it is completely unavoidable, its completely unavoidable. But removing your mask isnt just putting you at risk. It absolutely should be to final resort.

I have a staff member who is deaf. Customers are rude. I remove my mask and check in extra regularly to make sure she is okay.