Meet The Member - Living with Hearing Loss
Amy Morton
We were honoured to interview Amy Morton about her journey with hearing loss and the amazing campaign ‘Clarity in Communication’ she created during Covid-19.
It would be lovely to know more about the person behind ‘Living with Hearing Loss’. Could you tell us something about yourself?
Hello! My name Is Amy, I’m married with two young kids, a girl aged 8 and a boy aged 6 and a crazy dog to add to the madness! I enjoy the theatre, dance, music, good food, interior design, ballet fitness. I was a holistic therapist for 12 years before I had my two children.
Have you always had hearing loss?
I was born with a hearing loss but wasn’t diagnosed until I was 3 years and 9 months old. Back in the days of the glorious 80’s we didn’t have the incredible hearing tests that are done at birth today. So, it was quite a journey for my parents trying to fight and get the help they needed for me.
Can you tell us something about the impact of hearing loss on your daily life and work life?
So, it’s been a long road with a few bumps in it. However, I must say I’ve come to a very comfortable place with it and have a brilliant coping mechanism that I’ve heard people refer to as a ‘super power’ which previously I hadn’t thought of like that. But yes, my lip-reading skill is my power that’s enabled me to hear and fill in the gaps of what I miss. I have never really felt like it impacted me as I’ve never known any different and I was lucky in my schooling/education that I’ve never felt obstacles only challenges.
The pandemic unfortunately has changed that and has taken away my super power, so I have felt for the first time an obstacle however, I’m facing the challenge face on! There is always a solution, right?! Clarity in communication is a campaign to help those that have had lip reading taken away from them, and to help raise awareness to the customer service establishments to be able to help them by giving them options of how to help the 1 in 6 with hearing loss or deafness in this pandemic.
Tell us more about your campaign and what made you start it?
My campaign, Clarity in Communication, is to help generate awareness of the exemption card “please remove your face covering to make yourself understood to me” and to highlight ways to help communicate with the hard of hearing and deaf community. I have always wanted to raise awareness towards living with hearing loss, but never did I think this was how it was going to start.
The day that face masks were slowly creeping in, was the day that my thoughts and anxiety began, but then came my solution #clarityincommunication. Through being proactive with this campaign and trying to make some difference to people’s lives it has given me so much comfort.
What is the goal for your campaign?
My goal is ultimately to get as many customer service establishments on board offering themselves as lip reading friendly, and to build on their awareness of how to communicate more effectively with the hard of hearing and the deaf.
How has the campaign benefitted yourself and others?
I have seen benefits even in the short time since we launched before Christmas. I have had positive feedback from both hard of hearing customers, and from establishments who have said that they are grateful to have been made aware so that they can offer themselves to the 1 in 6 affected by hearing loss.
Do you have campaign plans for a world after Covid-19 and masks?
I am hoping to continue to raise awareness and keep in touch with the establishments on board to help raise their awareness as even when masks possibly pass it is still something that can be beneficial when working in the customer service sector.
Aside from your campaign, in an ideal world what would you like to see change that will make life easier for people affected by hearing loss and deafness?
I would love to see the awareness grow. I know through awareness, understanding comes. I also wish to contribute towards removing the terrible and untrue stigma that is associated with deafness and hearing loss. Hearing loss is difficult to understand as it's invisible and difficult to explain. However, I have a few tricks up my sleeve which I’m hoping will help towards this.
How can we, the Harpenden community, support the campaign?
My vision is to get as many of our establishments in Harpenden involved and become the first city to be completely lipreading friendly! How fantastic would that be??!! for our 1 in 6 who are affected by hearing loss and deafness?! incredible!
Would you have any inspirational recommendations (books/podcasts/film or series) that would be helpful to the community to create a better understanding.
Living With Hearing Loss is growing into an awareness platform and I will be constantly updating it with tips and knowledge of how to gain a better understanding into the hearing loss and deaf community. Please do get in touch with myself for your lip reading friendly poster and information about how you can offer yourself as a lip reading friendly establishment during this pandemic. My website is coming soon and please follow me on my social pages below for information and recommendations.