Why it’s time for Deaf Assistive Tech that doesn’t rely on the written word

According to UK charity Action on Hearing Loss, there are 11 million people with hearing loss across the UK - that's a staggering one in six of the population.  900,000 of these have severe or profound hearing loss. For 87,000 members of this group, British Sign Language (BSL) is their preferred language and English may be a second or third language. 

You may be surprised that Deaf sign language users consider sign to be their first language and English a second language. But those who are prelingually deaf, that is experience hearing loss before they learn to speak, are less likely to develop good speech and speech recognition skills and may not be taught to sign either. Studies have also shown that deaf children’s reading develops at a slower rate. The average deaf school leaver has a reading age equivalent to that of an 8/9-year-old hearing child. Lip reading is harder than it seems – try it! 

When acquiring English is made more difficult; the consequences are isolating. 

From opening a bank account to accessing medical support, so much communication relies on the written or spoken word. Face-to-face communication with hearing people can range from hard to impossible. Essential information isn’t available in print and online and even when it is available, many have lower literacy rates (can be as low as 8/9 years old). with lower literacy rates (can be as low as 8/9 years old). 

To put things into context, for big service providers like Lloyds Banking Group it’s likely a large chunk of their customer base use BSL – maybe up to 29,000. That’s equivalent to a town the size of Chichester trying to interact with the organisation on a frequent basis about potentially high value transactions. How many conversations each year take place? Of those how many were free flowing and how many convoluted? What’s the ‘value’, not just financially but in terms of quality of life? 

On the other hand, health sector decisions are potentially ‘life or death’. Since the 31st July 2016, all NHS England and adult social care services must follow a new set of rules called the Accessible Information Standard. The Standard tells health professionals what they MUST do to improve communication and accessibility for people with a disability or sensory loss. The principle is fantastic, but implementation is much harder. Why? 

The UK, as with most of Europe, has a shortage of sign language interpreters. A Comprehensive Guide to Sign Language Interpreting in Europe estimates one interpreter to every 70 deaf sign language users. If you’ve tried to book an interpreter lately, you’ll have felt the effects of this.