A Day of A Deaf Person

Imagine yourself without the ability to hear, not even the slightest sound. How would you carry out your daily tasks and activities? What would you do to complete them properly?

We’ll try to answer these questions and much more by following a person with a hearing disability for one day. We will focus on how he uses technology in his daily life.

Learning a Bit About Our Guy

Our friend’s name is Peter. He is totally deaf from birth, so he cannot hear sound even when it is amplified. He has been working as a graphic design specialist for almost two years now.

Let’s join Peter from the time he wakes up in the morning up to the moment he decides to call it a day and go to bed.

In the Morning

For most people, the sound of an alarm clock is enough to wake them up. Peter, on the other hand, requires something a bit different. Since he cannot hear the sound produced by regular alarm clocks, he uses one with a vibrating feature. He places his clock beside his pillow so that he would feel it when it vibrates during the specified time.

Breakfast

Upon waking up, Peter decides to have breakfast. His coffeemaker has a screen and buttons, so this makes it easy for him to make coffee. Obviously, he cannot use the sound features of his coffeemaker so he makes it a point to always look at its screen.

The same can be said with Peter’s toaster. He got one with a small screen that has a visual indicator. This makes it easy for him to check if his bread is done toasting.

After having bread with jam and a cup of coffee, Peter decides to know about today’s weather. Other people can simply turn on their radio and listen to the weather report. Peter found a way to get the same information through the Internet. He turns on his personal computer and browses a news site containing the latest weather report.

Preparing for Work

As he is checking his bag if he has everything, someone rings his doorbell. Peter cannot use regular doorbells that produce sound when they are activated. So he got a doorbell that has a specialized wireless device. This device vibrates when someone presses the button for the doorbell. Peter always has this small device when he is at home.

Feeling that the doorbell device is vibrating, Peter goes to his front door and opens it. He is greeted by the mailman who is aware that Peter cannot hear him. Peter thankfully nods and receives his mail.

He goes back to preparing his things, steps out of his house, and heads on to the train station.

Going to Work

Peter arrives to the train station and prepares money for his ride. He has no problem finding the correct area where he gets his card. However, when there is an important announcement in the train station, he will not be able to hear it. To solve this problem, Peter makes it a point to always check the wide screens in the station wherein announcements are normally displayed.

Peter gets on the train and finds a seat. Instead of relying on the announcements about each current station, he remembers to check the signs and landmarks to know the station he needs to get off in.

At Work

Peter walks to his office’s building and uses the elevator to go to the correct floor. He is greeted by his colleagues by smiles and friendly hand gestures. Peter turns on his computer to start working.

Very few of Peter’s superiors and colleagues know how to communicate via sign language. However, using a regular chat software, Peter is able to communicate with everyone in his office. Also, Peter relies mainly on email messages and memos to keep him updated on the announcements made in his office.

As a graphics design specialist, Peter creates brochures, newsletters, graphs, and other similar documents used by his company. Peter uses a regular computer with commercial graphics software in working on these documents.

Lunchtime

A few minutes before lunch, Peter receives a message from his colleague inviting him to have lunch with them. Peter finishes his task, prepares his things, and joins his friends for lunch.

Back to Work

He goes back to his work station and carries on with his next task. While creating a client’s brochure, Peter comes up with questions about the design. He uses a telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) to call the client. This device enables text communication via a telephone line.

The TDD has a QWERTY keyboard with a small screen where the conversation can be read. Peter’s client uses an ordinary telephone, and their conversation is facilitated by a human relay operator. Peter is happy that his company has provided this device as it makes it very easy for him to communicate directly with clients and other individuals.

At the End of the Day

Peter finishes his tasks and goes home by train. He checks his mobile phone for new text messages. To enable him to read voice messages, he acquired a service from his network provider that translates voice messages to text. Also, Peter has informed his family and friends that he prefers to receive text messages instead of voice calls.

Peter decides to order food from a restaurant. Since it is quite difficult to use a regular phone to do this, he checks the Internet for sites of restaurants that provide online ordering. This is a good solution; however, not all restaurants have sites that provide this service. Peter’s options are therefore limited to several restaurants. He chooses a restaurant, orders online, and waits for the delivery.

Before Going to Bed

After dinner, he decides to watch an hour of television. His TV supports closed captioning. This feature enables him to read the text transcription of audio portions of programs.

During nights when he does not want to watch TV, he loves to watch DVDs or videos in YouTube. He has to check though if the DVD he would get has closed captions for the film’s dialog. Also, He is glad that most videos in YouTube now have closed captions.

After watching his favorite show, Peter goes to bed to have a good night’s sleep. He feels safe as he uses a vibrating device that is activated when the smoke alarm goes off.

Next, read about the day of a deaf blind person.