As part of Deaf Awareness Week, RNID has released a new research report, highlighting the negative attitudes and lack of understanding people who are deaf or have hearing loss face every day.
Read it here: it-does-matter-report.pdf
Over 8,000 people took part in our survey, so we have some very strong evidence about the way deaf people and people with hearing loss feel, as well as the attitudes of the general public.
The key findings
Over the last year, two thirds of deaf people and people with hearing loss have experienced negative attitudes from others. Nearly half say they are ignored in public by most people, and – if they miss the conversation first time – millions are being dismissed and told ‘it doesn’t matter.’
One person summed it up by saying “when you say it doesn’t matter, I feel like I don’t matter”. This quote, from someone who took part in our research, struck a big chord with me. Nobody should feel they don’t matter.
The negative experiences our communities are facing day-in-day-out build up to have a huge impact on the lives of millions of people. People are feeling excluded, patronised, losing confidence. That has to change. Don’t just take it from us, meet one of our storytellers, Sarah.
But while there’s a lot to do, I hope you – like me – finish reading the report with a great sense of hope. Rather than any deeply held negativity towards people who are deaf or have hearing loss, what we have found from the public is simply a lack of awareness about hearing loss and deafness. As a result, the general public don’t have the confidence and knowledge to communicate effectively. Together, we can change this.
