Letter To The Editor – Jan. 12, 2012

To The Editor:
This is written in response to last week’s letter from Francis Upchurch. Mr. Upchurch has a severe hearing impairment, and he seems frustrated by the difficulties someone like himself faces in dealing with people in everyday situations. He is very fortunate to have been enrolled in a program of speech, language, lip-reading, and social skills. Many deaf people don’t have that opportunity.
I totally understand where he is coming from. Before moving to Water Valley after Katrina, I spent much of my career in Seattle and New Orleans as a specialist in this exact professional area. I wrote articles and books, taught doctors, medical students, and graduate students, and was a speech and language therapist to hearing impaired adults and children. I counseled parents and taught sign language and lip-reading. I even wrote a language and life skills book for deaf teenagers. That said, I’d like to give the community of Water Valley some pointers on communicating with someone who has a severe hearing impairment:
1. Only about 40% of speech sounds are visible on the lips. Lip-reading involves lots of guess work. When a hearing-impaired person joins your conversational group, it is helpful to say something like, “We are talking about _____ .”   This will give him/her a very helpful context.
2. If you are not making yourself understood, don’t keep saying the same thing. Rather, express your idea in another way; for example, “How far do you live from town?” not understood) …. “Do you live far from Water Valley; 1 mile, 5 miles?”
3. If your deaf friend uses sign language, learn some signs and learn to fmgerspell. If you call my office, I will send you a copy of the finger alphabet..
Mr. Upchurch, I hope this helps raise awareness of your problems.
Yours truly,
Elizabeth Gochnour-Person, CCC-SLP