Facilitating Communication For The Deaf
Updated on: Sep 23, 2020
Laikipia government has devised a mechanism that will help the deaf in communication during this time of covid-19.
To come to their rescue, the county government has designed special face masks that will help in communicating with other colleagues. The masks are made of a transparent material around the mouth to facilitate seeing the movement of lips while adhering to governments directive of wearing a face mask.
Coronavirus 2019 has been a catastrophe in the globe for several months. However, different people have been affected differently. We cannot fathom clearly the impacts those with difficulty in hearing are facing! Faced with a chal-lenge to maintain social and physical distances, the deaf have been left out with just one means of communication; written. Matters got worse when schools were closed down indefi-nitely more than five months ago in the country. Children who lack the ability to hear sound vibrations were in an environment with many people with similar shortcoming but who could help each other in understanding
any topic.
Today the same children are con-fined in an opposite environment full of peo-ple who hear but do not know a sign lan-guage. Another challenge that has befallen this unique community is wearing of face a mask which is a compulsory requirement from the government. The deaf rely on movement of lips to understand what point their partner is driving.
The County Government of Laikipia through the Exec-utive Office of The Governor continues to give exemplary services to all citizens including the Deaf Community during this pandemic era. In alignment with all Covid-19 protocols among them wearing of facemasks, the Deaf Community has had chal-lenges in clear and effective communica-tion as vital parts used like e face and mouth are partially hidden. This made the Kenya Sign Language trained interpreters working in the Office of the Governor to come up with the clear facemasks to ease communication.
The innovativeness in developing clear face masks is for effective communication with the deaf persons who alongside hand signing, finger spelling also use pantom ime,facial expression and lip reading which are essentials in the Kenyan Sign Language.
To come to their rescue, the county government has designed special face masks that will help in communicating with other colleagues. The masks are made of a transparent material around the mouth to facilitate seeing the movement of lips while adhering to governments directive of wearing a face mask.
Coronavirus 2019 has been a catastrophe in the globe for several months. However, different people have been affected differently. We cannot fathom clearly the impacts those with difficulty in hearing are facing! Faced with a chal-lenge to maintain social and physical distances, the deaf have been left out with just one means of communication; written. Matters got worse when schools were closed down indefi-nitely more than five months ago in the country. Children who lack the ability to hear sound vibrations were in an environment with many people with similar shortcoming but who could help each other in understanding
any topic.
Today the same children are con-fined in an opposite environment full of peo-ple who hear but do not know a sign lan-guage. Another challenge that has befallen this unique community is wearing of face a mask which is a compulsory requirement from the government. The deaf rely on movement of lips to understand what point their partner is driving.
The County Government of Laikipia through the Exec-utive Office of The Governor continues to give exemplary services to all citizens including the Deaf Community during this pandemic era. In alignment with all Covid-19 protocols among them wearing of facemasks, the Deaf Community has had chal-lenges in clear and effective communica-tion as vital parts used like e face and mouth are partially hidden. This made the Kenya Sign Language trained interpreters working in the Office of the Governor to come up with the clear facemasks to ease communication.
The innovativeness in developing clear face masks is for effective communication with the deaf persons who alongside hand signing, finger spelling also use pantom ime,facial expression and lip reading which are essentials in the Kenyan Sign Language.
