One day, while we we talking, I told him about my articles. He asked, "What are you writing about?" He admitted, he has trouble hearing too.
He added that his hearing is affected the most when the restaurant is full of patrons. A customer will call his name more than once. Trying to get his attention. There is piped in music playing in the background, which also impairs his hearing.
I can totally identify with his frustration. Whenever I'm at a night club, there is always loud music blaring in the background. It seems my friends always choose those times when the music is blasting the loudest to ask me questions. All I can do is point to my ears, trying to explain, the music is drowning out their words, making it impossible to hear them.
For Hearing Impaired people like Elizabeth, it's overpowering. She explained to me, rather than deal with loud music she stays home.
The only thing that keeps me home is a writing deadline. As soon as I finish an article, I join my friends for a night out. I find by then, I need a change in scenery.
Today even though it was raining, I went out to run errands, (I don't have a car) I stopped at a Kentucky Fried Chicken for lunch. I noticed on the counter a sign.
It read: KFC is committed to satisfying all of our customers. We are happy to provide assistance when needed, please ask. It had a symbol of a wheelchair for handicapped patrons, and a symbol of an ear, for Hearing Impaired/Deaf patrons.
I asked one of the cashiers, what they did for the Hearing Impaired patrons. She explained, it's KFC's policy to help people who are in wheelchairs or who are hard of hearing. The young lady told me, she's learning sign language. She wants to communicate with deaf people.
In conclusion I'd like to share a story from Chicken Soup for the Country Soul. It's called O' Holy Night. One day at the International Country Music Fan Fair in Nashville, TN at a concert.
Country singer John Berry was performing, and a deaf woman asked if she could touch his throat to hear what she had been hearing through her fingertips from her speakers at home.
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