Just one simple step

When Cathy Cobbold goes to an airport people begin doing funny things.

Although Cathy, who is profoundly deaf, shrugs her experiences off with a laugh, she has been working with Unite members at Gatwick Airport to improve conditions for deaf passengers.

“I was once offered a wheelchair. I’m quite capable of walking,” she says. “Sometimes staff try to be helpful by waving and gesturing, which makes other people think I’m dotty. Occasionally people will make up their own signs, which can be hugely entertaining but not ever so useful.”

There was also the occasion when an exasperated official, thinking he couldn’t be understood, made a rude comment to a colleague.

“I can lip read so he didn’t get away with it,” Cathy said.

While there is always the odd bad apple, Cathy made clear that most people’s difficulties in communicating with those who are deaf is just a lack of knowledge. It may not seem like much but the right know-how can turn a daunting trip for a deaf person into a pleasant one.

This was the issue that Cathy, who works for the charity Action For Deafness, and Gatwick Unite rep Ian Cains, teamed up to solve. With an estimated one in six people suffering some form of hearing loss, and Gatwick passenger numbers varying from 30,000 to 80,000 people per day, deaf people make up a significant number of travellers.

Seminar

In the course of his 14 years as a Gatwick security officer Ian has come into contact with many deaf people. Some months ago he realised that he couldn’t say thank you in sign language, and that probably neither could many of the other Gatwick staff, so he decided to organise a training seminar with Action for Deafness.

“Sometimes I just wanted to say thank you, but I didn’t know what it was until a few weeks ago. It’s so simple: You just put two fingers on your chin and move them away,” Ian said.

“I wasn’t the only person who wanted to learn how to better communicate with deaf passengers. I put a notice up in the staff rooms and 130 people signed up. I was surprised by the response and there’s more people putting their names down all the time.”

The seminar (pictured) was an unmitigated success and there are plans to make it a regular occurrence, Ian said. Participants are taught a few basic words in sign language and given an insight into how deaf people communicate and experience the world around them.

Simple things like having questions and instructions printed out, making sure the person you’re speaking to can see your lips move and being aware that people who are staring intently may be lip reading, can make all the difference.

“Lots of the people we speak to at Action for Deafness say the stress involved at airports tends to make them consider other means of travel,” explained Cathy.

“Laying in the sun for a week worrying that your awful experience on the outward journey maybe repeated tends to spoil the holiday a bit. But as Unite’s course has shown, we can change that.”