Making Your Meetings Deaf-Friendly
A workshop in advance of a National Association of the Deaf conference shows how meeting and hospitality professionals can improve their Deaf-friendly customer service.
Melissa Greenlee noticed problems the moment she checked in to her hotel. She’d arrived in Phoenix to lead a two-hour workshop on Deaf-friendly customer service — a prelude to the National Association of the Deaf’s (NAD) annual conference at the Phoenix Convention Center on July 5–9. But based on the miscues she saw in the lobby, the city didn’t seem ready for nearly 2,000 Deaf and hard-of-hearing visitors. The televisions lacked closed captioning. The staff lacked basic sign-language skills.
“They froze in fear when they met a Deaf person,” said Greenlee, the founder of deaffriendly.com, a website where Deaf and hard-of-hearing people rate businesses. Because of the hotel staff’s discomfort, Greenlee also felt rushed. “Hotel clerks normally take time to share their services, but they skimp on sharing this with Deaf guests,” she said. “It shows we receive subpar service, even though we are paying guests, just like hearing guests.”
Poor customer service is why Greenlee formed deaffriendly.com in 2012, and why she now offers workshops to show businesses how to better serve the more than 48 million Americans who are Deaf or hard of hearing. “We are an underserved demographic, but Deaf consumers are loyal customers,” Greenlee said. “Invest in us and you will see dividends for years to come.”
Phoenix was ready to make that investment. More than 200 local travel and hospitality professionals attended the workshop in advance of NAD 2016, including employees from the Phoenix Convention Center, Visit Phoenix, and a variety of downtown hotels. But would the training lead to improvements?
SEEING THE LIGHT — LITERALLY
The workshop’s first goal was to show that Deaf people are diverse. “There is no one size fits all,” said Greenlee, who proposed the workshop to NAD. “Some use sign language to communicate, some use their voice and speechreading. Some do both. And some rely on assistive technology like hearing aids, while others do not.”
Attendees also learned basic American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary, as well as how to applaud: by raising your hands and wiggling them. “For hearing people, it is a little strange,” said Kevin Mattingly, CFE, deputy director of the convention center, who attended the training with his staff. “But it makes you realize that sound means nothing when communicating with a Deaf person. When staff experienced the sensation of communicating in silence, it really sunk in.”
Talking Tips
Want to connect with Deaf audiences? Here’s some advice from Melissa Greenlee, the founder of deaffriendly.com:
› In written materials, capitalize the “D” in “Deaf,” just as you would capitalize Chinese or Dutch.
› Refrain from using the term “hearing-impaired” — many Deaf people find it offensive, because they don’t feel “impaired.” It’s better to say “hard of hearing.”
› Take the Deaf person’s lead on how to communicate. Most Deaf people, for example, don’t speech read, and even the most skilled speech readers can’t grasp every word.
› Visual cues are important, so use bright yellow or orange paper for signs. It makes them easier to spot.
› Giving directions? Pointing is fine in Deaf culture, and helps to get the message across.
Editor’s Note: Capitalizing the “d” in “Deaf” is not something that has become a mainstream convention. But many, including the National Association for the Deaf, use it to recognize Deaf culture.
