SAM’S SAD SAGA
‘New card will help many deaf people’
COMEDIAN and actor Sam Baines is hoping a new digital card will help deaf people avoid angry encounters like the one she faced in a cafe.
The card for people with hearing loss – stored on their mobile phones – alerts others to their condition and suggests the best ways they can communicate without becoming frustrated.
Since the pandemic struck and face masks became compulsory in many indoor settings, communication has become more difficult for deaf people.
Sam, who has starred in The Crown and Call The Midwife, has given her backing to the communication card produced by hearing loss charity RNID.
The award-winning comic, an ambassador for RNID, said: “Going to the supermarket and places like that has been really difficult over the last year. I have anxiety and get anxious socially anyway, but on top of that, I now have to worry about a face covering and communication as well as potentially knocking out my hearing aid while wearing the mask!
“You worry you won’t be able to hear people, you worry you are going to have to ask them to repeat themselves too many times and you can see the frustration in people when you say ‘Sorry, I can’t hear. Can you repeat that again please?’
“I don’t think many places have been deaf aware. It’s not been a priority for them as the priority has been keeping everyone safe, but with the added barrier of masks, it has been really challenging.
“There was one particularly difficult situation where a communication card like this would have really helped me. I was in a coffee shop with my mum who uses two hearing aids, and we just couldn’t understand what was being said because of all the background noise.
“The staff were all wearing masks and they were stood behind a Perspex screen. We could not understand what they were saying to us and they were getting quite annoyed because we asked them to repeat themselves.
“I asked them to lower their masks so we could lip read. But they said ‘no’ in an aggressive way and then continued to just shout in order to communicate.
“It was all just too stressful and not a very nice experience. If we had had a card like this on our phone I could have shown them this and indicated the best ways to communicate with me.”
Sam, who last year published her first children’s book, Harriet Versus The Universe, about a girl with a hearing aid, added: “The card allows you to advocate your needs – and educate others on the best ways to communicate with you.
“I think it’s great and I hope as many people as possible make their own cards.”
■ RNID Infoline: 0808 808 0123.
■ www.rnid.org.uk