Senior Special Assistant on Disability Matters to the Governor of Ekiti State, Hon Tunde Ogunrinde has made a case for transparent facemask to be used to ensure easy communication with persons with hearing difficulties.
He made the call while delivering a speech during the empowerment of 32 persons with disabilities, PWDs in Ado Ekiti on Monday.
According to him “Covid-19 has impeded on the ability of hard of hearing people to communicate effectively.
“The fact is that many Deaf and hard of hearing people rely on lipreading to understand a speech especially when communicating with the general public where a sign language interpreter is not available.
“When the mouth is covered by facemask, to understand what the person is saying will become cumbersome. This is why I am advocating for transparent facemask to be used which will enable the mouth to be seen clearly hence the ability to read the lips.”
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Ogunrindee, who is hard of hearing himself and depends on lip-reading and sign language to communicate, said “most times I visit hospital, the medical workers are always on facemask. I politely tell them to remove their facemask while keeping some distance because I am a hard of hearing person who can only read their lips to understand them is often seen as offensive to some of them.
“They will not even agree to write on a sheet of paper in lieu of removing their facemask. This presents a difficult situation for a hearing impaired person.
Hon Ogunrinde praised Governor Fayemi for his commendable works in the community of persons with disabilities, adding that no other government has done better in the history of Ekiti State.
“Like the establishment of Office of Disability Affairs, the signing of Disability Bill into law, appointment of a Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) as Senior Special Assistant on Disability Matters, ceding of Skills Acquisition Centre to PWDs only and many others too numerous to mention.
“These he did to demonstrate his love for PWDs and because of this I am complementing his efforts by giving back to the PWDs with this empowerment.” He said.