GREENVILLE, SC (FOX Carolina) - Wearing a mask is now a norm during the COVID-19 pandemic.
However, the deaf and hard of hearing community is facing new challenges due to this new norm.
Many people who face the challenge of not being able to hear clearly or hear at all, now can't read lips because of the masks, but they are hoping to raise awareness about ways you can help, like wearing clear masks.
Clear Mask launched in 2017 out of a need for better communication for the deaf and hard of hearing community in hospitals.
Aaron Hsu, ClearMask CEO, says "Once she [Allysa Dittmar] got into the operating room all of the doctors and nurses were wearing surgical masks right so she was completely cut off from everyone around her and they were trying to ask her final medical questions."
Little did the founders know that fast forward to 2020, everyone would be wearing masks so now that need is even amplified and reaches further out from the medical industry.
With cashiers and bank tellers now wearing them, those who rely on lip reading are struggling.
Theodore Morgan believes, "we should be wearing clear masks for all of us because it’s not just for hard of hearing and the deaf people who need to read their lips, but also elderly people who cannot understand."
Morgan is hard of hearing and says it has been a struggle.
Jason Hurdich is an interpreter who is also deaf and he's taken to Tik Tok to raise awareness to the struggles that the deaf and hard of hearing community is facing.
Hurdich, deaf interpreter, says, "COVID-19… whew, communication is a challenge, definitely a challenge. We are facing a lot more barriers in communication."
Hsu says, "subconsciously, we all know that being able to see who we are talking to fundamental to how we communicate and connect as human beings and I think because of COVID now that everyone is masked and walking around seeing people with masks, they are consciously, explicitly realizing that."
More and more companies are aiming to perfect their mask designs to fix fogging and glaring. This will help the lines of communication become clearer as we all get through COVID-19 together.
Hurdich says, "with the face shield having a glare and that strong glare can prevent me from seeing a person's face I struggle in the face mask as well."
Morgan says, "It has to be accessible."
"We are all human beings… to find that compassion and that knowing that we are going through this together and we are here trying to overcome this together," says Hurdich.
Some who are deaf or hard of hearing say that they use pen and paper or writing apps to communicate- but because of covid, some aren't comfortable sharing even a pen or touching someone else's cell phone.
They are hoping that all businesses will purchase a few to have on hand for their staff.
"We all are going through this together it is not just deaf people… we are all going through this fear together," believes Hurdich.
Hsu says, "a lot of it is just basic human decency. If I were in a scenario where I needed something to communicate and feel heard and feel like a human being I would like a hospital to provide that."