‘I end up not communicating’: How deaf pupils are coping with face masks in the classroom

“I have found it difficult communicating with the students in my classes,” Molly Suter, a Year 13 pupil, tells The Independent. 

Schools across England have been bringing students back this week, with new government recommendations to wear face masks in secondary school classrooms until at least Easter.

But deaf students say this measure has proved a new challenge.

For Molly, a student with mild to moderate bilateral hearing loss, the masks have made it “harder to hear”.

“You don’t know where the noise is coming from,” she tells The Independent.  “I end up not communicating at all as it is not worth suffering or struggling through it.”

New government advice on face coverings in secondary schools extended the use of masks to the classroom - not just communal areas and corridors - unless social distancing is possible from 8 March, when all students were allowed onsite for the first time in two months.

After the updated guidance was announced, the National Deaf Children’s Society raised concerns, warning it could have a “devastating” impact on the ability of the 35,000 deaf pupils in England to participate in lessons.

The advice says people speaking to or helping someone who relies on lip reading or clear sound to communicate are also exempt from wearing face coverings in education settings and urges staff to be “sensitive” to pupils’ needs.

In Molly’s school, her teachers have adapted to support her by staying socially-distanced and not wearing masks.

At the same time, they have been repeating what her classmates in face masks say, so she can lip read and follow.

While her mother Wendy says this has been “fabulous”, she adds: “It does slow down the pace of a lesson if you are having to repeat everything that everybody says.”

Wendy says classmates have been “really supportive” and have not been “frustrated”. “But Molly’s very much aware that she’s impacting on the learning of other people,” she says.

Meanwhile, 13-year-old Hollie Lewis, who is deaf in her right ear, also returned to school this week with masks now being worn in lessons.

Teachers are staying socially-distanced and do not wear masks when talking to Holly and have told students to pull their masks down when talking to her.

“It is alright, but I struggle to hear everyone in the classroom,” the Year 8 pupil from Bristol tells The Independent. 

open image in gallery

“It’s massively isolating,” her mother, Tanya, says.

When she first heard about the changes, she says she wanted government ministers to “put cotton wool in their ears, everyone to walk around in masks and see how isolated they feel” as it was the “only way” they would understand.

Ian Noon, head of policy at the National Deaf Children’s Society, tells The Independent: “Public health must always take priority, but face masks in the classroom are causing huge issues for 35,000 deaf students across the country.

“Deaf young people are walking into classrooms and facing the challenge of their educational lifetimes. They are battling to communicate and struggling to understand their teachers and their friends.”

Dinah Mandell, who has moderate to severe hearing loss in both ears, launched a petition signed tens of thousands of times calling for the government to distribute clear masks to schools - which she has managed to get a handful of from a local charity for her teachers to wear.

Despite this help and “good support” from her school, she has also faced challenges with other students wearing face masks in class.

“If it’s loud, or if there is a lot of debate or chatter going on, then it makes it very difficult for me to understand what someone is saying,” she says.

The 17-year-old says some of her closer friends know she lip reads and have been taking their masks off to help her understand and teachers repeat any comments she may have missed.

open image in gallery

The most difficult thing is trying to understand class debates and discussion - which she says there is a lot of in her A-level classes - and she struggles to understand pupils in face masks sat far away.

This makes her feel “frustrated” and like she is “missing out” on things she should not, she says.

“It feels quite isolating sometimes as the only one who doesn’t understand what people are saying in the class,” she adds.

Meanwhile, Elliot Chisholm is in his first year of secondary school - and using hearing aids and a radio aid in some classes.

He says the rollout of face masks in classrooms for pupils has not been “great” but “not the end of the world either”.

His mother Laura, tells The Independent his school has been “great” by sitting him at the front of the class to help. Teachers have not worn masks in his lessons with a designated space cordoned off to keep socially-distanced from pupils, she adds.

But she says: “He said it does make conversations harder and that a few times he has just nodded because he doesn’t want people to have to repeat themselves.

“If it’s a group conversation he just nods if he doesn’t know what people are saying.”

Mr Noon said it was not just children’s education being impacted, but families had spoken about the effect on mental health and young people’s ability to socialise.

“The government can make a huge difference to the lives of these deaf children if they strengthen their guidance, make sure support like clear face masks can be accessed easily by schools, and give these deaf children the lifeline they desperately need,” he says.

A Department for Education spokesperson said: “We know face coverings can make it more difficult for children with additional needs to communicate, who might rely on lip reading or facial expressions for understanding.

“Schools should make adjustments for children with additional needs, so they can learn and be taught alongside their peers and we have provided schools with detailed guidance on this.”

The department added: “We have committed to reviewing face coverings by Easter, and in line with all decision-making throughout the pandemic, will follow the best available scientific and public health advice at the time.”