“Trinidad and Tobago has many remarkable features, but unfortunately, deaf awareness and public awareness of deaf culture is not one of them. The last 50 years of family experiences, added to my personal observations, show that we still face the same problems, with deaf and hard of hearing people still being novelties. It is simply not our society. It may be a harsh assessment, but this is my reality.”
Three years later write thatI still read lips and go by feel. The effects of a pandemic; climate, economic and migration crises; blatant violations of fundamental human rights; mass protests; invasions of countries; wars; terrorism; and, more importantly for people who are deaf and hard of hearing (HoH), a catalyzed evolution of AI and technology in relation to our personal and professional communication methods. Yet here in Trinidad and Tobago… not much has changed – accessibility is still an illusion.
Every day I experience visible discomfort when I call myself HoH; whether it is in the public or professional sphere, a taxi driver or a colleague. With the former, no matter how many times I say, “I’m hard of hearing, I need to read your lips,” drivers continue to ask immaterial questions about music on the radio, traffic noise, looking ahead, and expect an answer. I understand that Trinidadians are culturally fond of “smalls” (small talk) and so I sometimes try, but more often than not my response is an uninterested, blank stare.
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There also seems to be an inverse relationship between security and accessibility. Local banking institutions apparently believe that information can only be validated or credit cards activated via phone calls routed by Latin American representatives with accents that are incomprehensible even to my hearing acquaintances. My sister has done a friendly imitation of me on more than one call, because what else?
In the post-pandemic world, security screens have been installed at service points. These screens significantly dampen sound and are often completely dark, making it impossible to hear, read, and therefore understand anything in banks, hospitals, gas stations, branch offices, or even my favorite discount furniture store.
I recently visited a banking hall and a medical lab, and when I indicated that I was a HoH and needed lip reading, the teller and phlebotomist stopped talking and started writing and gesturing. The teller, who was wearing a mask behind a thick security screen, decided to lean forward at first, and I assume he was trying to speak louder – I’m not sure – but if I can’t see you, I can’t hear you. Customer service agents remain painfully ignorant about how to serve the disabled, and there is no training given to remedy this. After multiple traumatic experiences in hospitals this has forced me to spend many more dollars than the average (hearing) person on private medical care just to have some accessibility. Misconceptions about the extent of deafness are very common.
In the professional sphere, colleagues are either genuinely fascinated by the way I communicate and are eager to learn more, or they say, “I don’t even consider you ‘hard of hearing’”, which might help them deal with their latent audism… but does no good to any HoH person. As an administrative and communications consultant who works primarily remotely, I have made it my mission to teach all clients, project partners and colleagues how to enable and use closed captioning, live transcriptions and AI summaries in all common video conferencing software. This is extremely useful in the virtual workplace, but provisions for audio support technology are still non-existent in local offices and physical meetings and conferences.
Although I do have an aversion to hearing aids for various reasonsAfter watching my older sister work professionally and talk to my niece in the other room, using two hearing aids—I might give them another chance. In the meantime, the Ambient Sound Mode on Samsung’s Galaxy Buds2 Pro is a blessing. So no, colleagues, I’m not listening to music during our physical meetings, I’m just amplifying your voices. And while WhatsApp is increasingly being used for business communications and voice notes are easier than typing, until WhatsApp launches a built-in transcription feature—please, type.
On a more positive note, it’s been rewarding to broaden my advocacy for accessibility and inclusion, particularly through fashion, as a HoH model for a popular Caribbean workwear brand and as a proud co-founder of the gem that is Theodora.
It is truly disappointing that I still have many of the complaints my mother had decades ago as a HoH child. Nationally, Trinidad and Tobago’s progress towards becoming an accessible society has stagnated and sometimes even regressed. The institutions that are meant to serve deaf and HoH people are running circles around collective issues with a revolving door of hearing staff who are committed to inaction.
For me, the fight for accessibility is still a plea for that.