Communicating with people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment
Make sure you:
- Get the person's attention before talking
- Do not stand in front of a window or a bright light
- Look at the person as you talk
- Speak naturally
- Don't mumble, eat or smoke whilst talking
- Use simple language and sentence structure
- Avoid background noise
- Use visual clues and gestures
- Write down what you want to say
- Use a combination of speech, writing, fingerspelling and signing.