What is this deaf strategies website about?
Deaf Strategies has been designed with hearing impaired people in mind. It brings together strategies that people with a hearing loss have found helpful to them in a variety of situations. We hope that people will be able to dip into this pot of ideas and take what they feel they will find useful, much like the bee in the photo below takes the nectar from the poppy. This website has been provided by a charity called Promoting Deaf Issues (Charity Number 1115671).
How you can use this website
1. Adapt the suggestions to your own needs.
2. Remember that what might work for one person might not work for another.
3. Ignore suggestions which don’t appeal to you.
4. You might find it helpful to list the ideas you feel will help you in the order of your preference.
5. You can always try one course of action and if that fails try another.
6. Please try not to be downhearted if things don’t work out straight away. Please try another strategy. Also, you might find it helpful to talk over the problem with someone else if you are having difficulty finding a solution as they might be able to offer further suggestions or listen to you whilst you develop your own solutions.
7. Several hearing impaired people said that they found that time is a great healer and that they eventually developed a sense of humour in some situations.
Where have the strategies on this site come from?
This site has been put together from tips and strategies collected by lipreading teachers and their classes.
The types of strategies you will find on this website:
Anticipatory and repairing strategies
The strategies on this website can be used to anticipate what problems might come up or to repair a situation that has gone wrong.
Anticipatory strategies
It can be helpful to think about what sorts of things might come up in a situation before you go into it.
For example, when I go to my optician I have to take my glasses off. I have found that I can’t hear him and I can’t lipread him without my glasses on. A strategy that works for me is to explain this to my optician. I then ask him to tell me give his instructions BEFORE I take my glasses off.
Another example: supermarket checkout staff tend to ask certain things such as: “Do you need help with your packing”, “Are you collecting the vouchers”, “Do you want cashback”, etc. I find if I’m able to anticipate what might be said, it helps me to lipread them better. Some people have found that practicing sentences that they think are likely to come up in front of a mirror helps them to learn the look of the phrase.
Repairing strategies
We can’t expect to be able to anticipate everything that everyone says to us and sometimes we need to try several repair tactics or strategies before we find one that works for us.
Other strategies are more about repairing a situation in which we are having difficulty following speech. For example, if the optician is trying to tell me what I need to do before I take my glasses off, but I can’t lipread him because he has a beard and moustache which cover his mouth – my strategy for this might be to ask him to write it down.
How we ask can make a difference
If we do need to ask someone to do something to help us, such as repeat something or move into a better light or write something down, how we ask can make a difference. Many people said that they always ask politely or with a smile and find that most people are willing to help.
Naturally, if we ask in a more aggressive way because we are feeling frustrated or panicked then we might not get as much help or might even discourage people from helping.
Copying material from this website
People are welcome to print off sections for their own personal use; however if the material is to be passed on to someone else we would appreciate it if you cite this website as the source.
Disclaimer
The information on this website is given in good faith but the deafstrategies team cannot accept responsibility for any loss, damage or injury resulting from its use.
Links to other sites are provided for your convenience and does not mean that we endorse the material at those sites or any associated organisation, product or service.