Lipread row at Covid test centre
She says they refused to lower masks so she could lipread
APROFOUNDLY deaf British Sign Language user was appalled at the treatment she received from the Covid testing station in Rawtenstall.
Ayesha Gavin, from Weir, had already got a negative test result from Haslingden Community Link when she asked about home testing lateral flow kits.
She says she was told they were only given out at the Rawtenstall testing site and only after 1pm, when she was due to be teaching in Milnrow.
Although Ayesha speaks clearly and wears hearing aids, she cannot understand what people are saying without lipreading, especially in noisy areas.
She said: “I had a fullface visor on and kept my distance and explained to the member of staff that I was profoundly deaf and needed him to lower his mask so I could lipread.
“I could see he was speaking because his mask moved, but he would not lower it.”
The man motioned for Ayesha to follow him into the station and she was greeted by a woman, who Ayesha said talked behind her mask and would not lower it - despite her requests.
Ayesha said: “I asked again for her to lower her mask and she rolled her eyes and shook her head again.
“I explained to her that she has to lower her mask, as I need to happen so I can communicate because I am deaf and need to lipread.
“She again shook her head.”
Finally, she encountered a third man who did lower his mask and explained that tests were only handed out between 1pm and 8pm, Ayesha informed him that was the same times she was due to be teaching in Milnrow.
Feeling uncomfortable, and with people starting to stare, she left without the home testing kits.
Ayesha said: “I would understand if the centre did not have tests to give me, or they were not permitted to give them to members of the public before 1pm, had this information been given to me.
“I am complaining about the lack of awareness and the unwillingness to lower masks so that I could lipread.”
By contrast, that same day, Ayesha’s Motability car had a flat tyre.
Unable to use a phone, she asked her client to call the RAC and on arrival the patrolman did his best to communicate with her.
He followed her to a Kwik-Fit tyre centre, where he explained her deafness to the staff and they immediately lowered masks so she could lipread.
She said: “The difference in the way I was treated in these two circumstances could not have been starker.
“In both situations I was making a reasonable request and I was also requesting help on specific issues. However, in one situation I was accommodated with respect and kindness, and in the other I was made to feel very disabled, and that I was a problem.”
Ayesha runs her own disability awareness and
BSL tutoring service Ayesha Communications.
The Department of Health & Social Care has not responded to requests for a comment.