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Ordinary daily life for the hard of hearing is full of obstacles. Deafness is invisible -- especially when we refuse to acknowledge it – and sometimes even when we do. The same person who will offer to help a blind man across the street or push a wheelchair up a ramp will dismiss a hearing impaired person with a brusque repetition of exactly the same thing he or she didn’t get in the first place. He (or she) probably won’t get it the second time either.
But instead of shrugging – and fuming – and giving up, I’ve learned to persist. I've learned to explain patiently that I have hearing loss and that I need the information either rephrased or written down for me.
For suggestions and information about flying with hearing loss or other disabilities see Travel Tips, on my home web site, where i list some helpful web addresses and information.
Meanwhile, here are some things I've learned from my own exprience. I make all my reservations on line and I’m careful to print out the receipts, so that when I get to the car rental booth or the hotel all I have to do is show them the confirmation. Careful advance planning -- plus persistence! -- can make all the difference. But it took me a few tries to figure that out.
After I first lost most of my hearing five years ago, I'd often be reduced to tears doing something as simple as flying to Savannah to visit my parents. I'm not afraid of flying but I became terrified of airports. Airports offer many services to people with disabilities: those little golf carts that weave through the crowds beeping, wheelchairs and personnel to push them, special front-of-the-line access at security, help boarding and deboarding the plane.
But for those with hearing loss, it’s a different situation. First, airports are noisy! Constant announcements over a p.a. system, waves of overlapping conversations, the distant roar of airplanes taking off and landing, crowds and bustle, ever present televisions blaring. I find it hard to hear a traveling companion, much less my cell phone in an airport.
And then there are those gate attendants shouting through megaphones: "Boarding Zone 4!" I used to try to peer surreptitiously at someone else’s ticket to see when I was supposed to board. Now I just stand very patiently very close to the attendant making the announcement. Or I ask the person standing next to me. If I don’t understand what they say, I point to the Zone on my ticket and ask if this is the one that’s boarding. Some airlines have started installing LED boards saying which zone is boarding.
Many airports have looping and many hearing aids have telecoils. These can be valuable tools in traveling. But if you don't have a hearing aid with a telecoil, or you don't know you have one, or if you do know but don't know how to use it -- there are other ways to get the information you need. I wrote about some ongoing efforts to provide better hearing assistance in airports a few months ago. Here's the link: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/what-i-hear/201303/airports-and-the-hearing-impaired.
At LaGuardia a few years ago, waiting for a flight to Savannah, I was at a gate where four flights to small southern cities were all leaving at about the same time from the same gate. The passengers were boarding buses, because the planes were parked out on the tarmac, so the departures were rapid, one on top of another. At one point, thinking the attendant had called "Savannah" through her megaphone, I dutifully stood in line. Turned out it was Greensboro. She dismissed me impatiently, telling me to go sit down until my flight was called. I was humiliated and furious -- not an uncommon state for the hard of hearing.
But recently, taking that same flight, I noticed that the airline had installed an LED board that said which flight was actively boarding. Look around. The information you need may not be in your line of sight, but it’s possible it’s there somewhere. Some airports are trying, at least.
In my next post, I’ll write about foreign travel experiences, which in some ways are easier than domestic ones. Because most international airports serve passengers of all nationalities, they (for the most part) have learned to communicate in a way that even the hard of hearing can understand.
