Harrison Beck

Hearing disabilities are not always clearly cut in their impact on each individual. For freshman Harrison Beck, his hearing disability continued to develop over time. Despite Beck being born hard-of-hearing, his ability to hear worsened over the course of a few years. By the age of three-years-old, Beck was considered to be profoundly deaf, a label that he has continued to use since that time.

“I believe that the most important thing for people to understand about deaf or hard-of-hearing [people] is that they can communicate with us in many different ways that include learning sign language, writing on paper, and some other ways. Deaf and hard of hearing [people] can do everything, no matter if we can’t hear,” Beck said.

COVID-19 has made masks a common part of today’s society. Though there are many types of masks available, including cloth masks, gaiters, N95 face coverings and clear masks, many leave the face obstructed.

“The challenge about communicating with others with masks is it is hard to see their face. I am not sure what they feel: happy, excited, mad, or sad, or any [other] feeling because it covers part of their face. It can make me confused sometimes by trying to understand what they are trying to say or [trying to] ask me,” Beck said.

In the school setting, many interpreters wear a clear mask in order to help deaf and hard-of-hearing students with communication. Beck also writes on paper, uses a phone or simple hand signs in order to communicate. 

“Mask and the pandemic does impact me by [making it] harder to understand other people and what goes on in the world and near me. It increases my anxiety because I am not able to read people’s lips or understand what they are saying or what is going on,” Beck said.