Recently at work I had an idea, why not try and learn some basic sign language? See I work in a supermarket located in an area with lots of hard of hearing people living near by. Sure most customers who are hard of hearing come into our store with a support worker, which is great! But does that make us lazy in a way? We all talk to the support worker rather than the customer themselves. Would we want someone talking to our friend rather than us because they assume we cannot understand? Of course we don’t know sign language and for some customers using their support worker is their only way to communicate clearly, but what if we could make it easier for them?!
I brought this up at work and suggested we try and learn some basic signs so we can communicate with our customers at least a small amount rather than completely through their support workers. It was well received by my colleagues and so we set about trying to make this work. A friend of mine (who works with me, how lucky am I!) agreed to help out. He can sign, and agreed to help by teaching those interested a few phrases such as ‘can I help you’, ‘welcome’ and ‘my name is’.
The sign language session at work went really well! So many colleagues wanted to genuinely learn and they took to it so easily! Sure we are not professionals and couldn’t have a detailed conversation in sign language, however it is a start to making our customers feel even more welcome, appreciated and respected. But most of all it’s making their shopping experience easier.
The success of this got me thinking should we be teaching sign language in schools or basic phrases relevant to jobs as part of their new starter training? Imagine how many people would no longer feel frustrated because they cannot communicate what they want. How many children would feel less confused and left out because finally their friends can talk to them. How many people it would give a new lease of life to if we all knew even just a handful of phrases and words in sign language!
Surely anything we can do to make life easier for people should be embraced and encouraged? Learning some sign language, putting in ramps for disabled people, even having dedicated cinema screenings for people with autism! Any one of these things could change someones life.
So why are we not making sign language more accessible to learn?
The Fud Magazine 