Celebrating Deaf Awareness Week
The aim of this year's Deaf Awareness Week is to promote greater awareness and understanding of the challenges faced by the deaf community in accessing communication.
Deaf and people with hearing loss may feel: misunderstood, unheard, invisible and or isolated.
We can all make the world a better place by educating ourselves on how to support our *D/deaf colleagues at work, in our local community or our friends and family. What is the one thing you can do today to educate yourself about the D/deaf community?
In this month’s blog we meet three built environment practitioners, who share their personal stories and perspectives, including how the built environment could be more inclusive for D/deaf people.
Huge thanks to Florence, Ben and Amanprit for sharing your perspectives!
Florence Murphy | Bid Manager- Bennetts Associates
Hi Florence, tell us what inspired your career choice?
Experiencing spaces and shaping the physical world around us appealed to me. Growing up, I spent hot summer days by the river lining up stones to form the outlines of rooms in a house, and friends and siblings inhabited them for the day. They must have looked like mock ruins of Roman villas! I was also very aware of the impact of humans on our environment, and wanted to do something about that, but wasn’t very interested in biology – at the time there didn’t seem to be obvious other routes into environmental careers. The practice I work for combines both interests.
What do you think architecture and the built environment need to do to make education & work more inclusive?
Technology has progressed in leaps and bounds, which has been extremely helpful, but I would like to emphasise the human side. Communication is a two-way process, and where there’s a will, there’s a way. Curiosity and openness are great qualities – check in with the deaf person, don’t be afraid to ask how you can do things well or better. Think laterally, be creative with communication, it’s integral to being creative with work – for example, find a different way of saying the same thing.
What could built environment design and management professionals do to make great spaces for people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment?
We all listen with our eyes as well as our ears, and designing spaces where you can see what is happening is helpful for everyone. Take entrances and arrival spaces, for example. The seating at my doctors’ surgery waiting room is arranged so patients have their back turned to the entrance; as a result, most people, including those who hear well, sit sideways! Intercoms ideally need text displays, or at least an indicator light on them.
Which spaces, places or cities are good examples of inclusive environments?
An inclusive environment for me is one in which the people I am with instinctively look at me, ‘read’ me to see if I am following what’s been said, and don’t hesitate to interrupt the group if I’m looking doubtful. One of the environments in which I have felt the most included has been with my tag rugby team.
Bennetts Associates’ London studio in which I work has inclusive aspects to its design – it has a series of small, interconnected spaces that look onto each other. From where I sit, I can see people come and go and interact; the first-floor meeting room has this little window through which you can see people arriving at reception on the ground floor.
In London where lots of different languages are spoken, I’ll get asked “where are you from?” as people don’t realise right away that the uniqueness of my voice is down to my bad hearing, so curiosity predominates. Whereas, in others like Paris where – it is a bit of a cliché, but it’s true - people are more impatient, it is more likely to be a brisk “speak up, I can’t hear you!”.
Tell us about your current projects. Is there anything we should look out for in the near future?
At Bennetts Associates, I’m excited to see my architect colleagues continuously explore new materials and ways of designing and building, including the (re)use of buildings and materials to reduce the carbon impact of our building projects - which is where we can make the biggest difference by far, compared to our footprints as individuals. I help coordinate our competition entries and even if we don’t win them, ideas we develop for competitions can end up being used on live projects.
We have a live project on which we’re using unfired blocks of earth made with earth taken from the building site itself, which results in an estimated embodied carbon saving of 84% compared to more ‘standard’ materials, and a couple of others explore the large-scale use of mass timber to create buildings which are ahead of the trajectory towards net zero carbon.
“If I can leave one take-away it would be to allow the time for effective communication. Good communication equates to good teamwork and good work. It isn’t time taken away from your work, it makes it better.”
Ben Stephens | Architect
Hi Ben, tell us, what inspired your career choice?
I always struggled with written and spoken language from a young age. At 18 my written/spoken English was the equivalent of a 14 year old which is pretty high for someone who is Deaf. Drawing was a strength of mine, and it wasn’t until a multiple choice careers exercise at school when I was 15 showed that Architecture was high on the list and I was then keen to do it knowing what A Levels I needed to qualify for the Architecture Course at University.
What can the architecture and built environment sector do to make education and work more inclusive?
Society is the problem to this day. There is still a lack of understanding by most people regarding disabilities especially hidden disabilities like Deafness. Education in increasing awareness can help a little bit. I heavily rely on modern and new technologies to enable better access to communications in work or education.
I had to rely on my friends' lecture notes whilst at university and starting work in practice in late 1990s and early 2000s was not easy and my then boss said I could not manage a project because I was unable to use the phone. Fast forward 20 years I run my own company and projects thanks to emails, text messaging, video calls and speech to text interpreters/predictive captioning (which is not perfect).
What more could more built environment design and management professionals do to make great spaces for people who are d/Deaf or have a hearing impairment?
Have a better understanding of creating or improving spaces for Deaf people. There was research carried out in America called Deaf Space with simple diagrams to explain how to make it easier for Deaf people. In the world we currently live in there is discrimination everywhere for a Deaf person, from my experience – I still get anxiety from travelling by air, train, and car or even visiting public buildings as there are announcements or sounds that I am not familiar with or don’t understand what is being spoken on the announcer.
I speak verbally by means of lipreading with the use of a cochlear implant device and have been a trustee of a Deaf communications company for 10 years which increased my understanding of sign language. For example, what are the right background colours for sign language to be carried out, where is the right angle for lights whether artificial or natural and distance between people to enable them to read signs as well as lipread?
Which spaces, places or cities are good examples of inclusive environments?
There is very little, and nothing really stands out as far as I know (I have a lot of knowledge and have visited a lot of buildings, mostly modern) – that’s how bad it is.
Most buildings have right-angled corners and Deaf people are unable to ‘see/hear’ someone walking in the opposite direction. Visibility is more important to us so a simple curved wall instead of a right-angled wall will be more comforting and safer, with the knowledge that you would be more likely to see the person coming in the opposite direction.
There has been no building or outdoor space that I have felt comfortable in with a bit of emotion – it has been mainly cold and stale from a Deaf person’s standpoint. Very rarely you would come across a building that has been specifically/properly designed for the Deaf. There have been Deaf schools and offices that were designed by hearing people who have no real understanding of what it is like being Deaf all the time – they do try their best however, but it is not good enough and there’s a real lack of understanding – it's probably better to be carried out by Deaf Architects in my opinion.
Tell us about your current projects. Is there anything we should look out for in the future?
I am currently working on a subcontract basis for an Architect practice in London and the director I am working with is also profoundly Deaf like me, so we have similarities in terms of communications and the way we work.
I have a few projects with my own practice PASTE Architects and am also a Golf Course Architect with one project with a client who is a friend that understands my deafness, which helps.
I had been working on a research project which was designing Extra Care facilities for the Deaf but it is on hold for the time being. It’s harder getting work with new clients who are not familiar with me and my Deafness. I often lose out on work to hearing people, which clients tend to think are easier to deal with from another perspective. It's probably best not to work with them because it will be difficult.
“It’s not easy being a Deaf person in a hearing world designed for hearing people. However, I am the most content I have been in my life being Deaf and would not change it”
Amanprit Arnold | Programme Manager GLA
Hi Amanprit, tell us what inspired your career choice?
As Deaf person, I am a visual person and I have always been interested in how cities and places function, and what happens behind the scenes to make all the complex city components work. I also liked how places made people feel and what goes behind in designing them.
What can the architecture and built environment sector do to make education and work more inclusive?
Provide accessible learning materials and resources. This could include providing transcripts of lectures and presentations, offering sign language interpretation services, and making sure that all course materials are available in accessible formats.
Create a welcoming and inclusive learning environment. This could include having staff who are trained in deaf awareness and sign language, and providing opportunities for deaf students to connect with each other and with deaf professionals in the field. Christopher Laing has set up SignStrokes, which creates architectural signs - https://www.arts.ac.uk/colleges/central-saint-martins/stories/signstrokes
Provide opportunities for deaf students to gain hands-on experience in the field. This could include offering internships and apprenticeships with deaf-owned businesses or organisations, and providing access to deaf mentors and role models.
Promote deaf talent and leadership in the field. This could include featuring deaf architects and designers in publications and events, and creating opportunities for deaf professionals to share their expertise and insights.
By taking these steps, the architecture and built environment sector can create a more inclusive and accessible learning and work environment for deaf people. This will not only benefit deaf students and professionals, but it will also make the sector more innovative and creative.
The design and management of the built environment plays a huge part in inclusion. What could more design and management professionals do to make great spaces for people who are deaf or have a hearing impairment?
DeafSpace design principles aim to create spaces that are accessible, inclusive, and welcoming for Deaf people. They focus on the following five areas:
Sensory reach: This principle acknowledges that Deaf people have a wider visual field than hearing people, and that they need more space to communicate effectively in sign language.
Space and proximity: This principle emphasises the importance of providing enough space for Deaf people to gather and communicate in sign language. It also suggests that Deaf people should be able to see each other's faces clearly when they are communicating.
Mobility and proximity: This principle encourages the design of spaces that allow Deaf people to move around freely and easily. It also suggests that Deaf people should be able to see and hear each other from any point in a space.
Light and colour: This principle acknowledges that Deaf people are more sensitive to light and colour than hearing people. It suggests that the design of spaces should take this into account, and that the use of light and colour should be used to enhance the visual environment for Deaf people.
Acoustics: This principle emphasises the importance of reducing background noise in spaces where Deaf people are present. It suggests that the design of spaces should use sound-absorbing materials and other techniques to reduce noise, and that the use of sound should be carefully considered.
DeafSpace design principles are an important step in creating more inclusive and accessible spaces for Deaf people. By following these principles, designers can create spaces that are welcoming, comfortable, and conducive to communication for all.
Which spaces, places or cities are good examples of inclusive environments?
Gallaudet University, the only Deaf university in the world in Washington D.C
The National Technical Institute for the Deaf in Rochester, New York
Special needs education schools
Currently, Dubai aims to be the most disability-inclusive tourist city in the world through accessible technology by accessing information through a sign language interpreter on devices handed out, or QR codes on mobiles.
Tell us about your current projects. Is there anything we should look out for in the near future?
As I’m embedded in the Deaf Community, I would like to see a DeafCity mixed-use cultural hub in London. A welcoming space to call home to celebrate our culture, history and sign language but also learn, collaborate and innovate with each other.
This space would be co-designed with the Deaf community that inspires others. So watch this space!
“By including the Deaf community in city design conversations, the architecture and built environment sector can make a real difference in the lives of deaf people and others. They can help to create spaces that are accessible, inclusive, and welcoming, and that allow everyone to participate fully.”
*Note
The word deaf is used to describe or identify anyone who has a severe hearing problem. Sometimes it is used to refer to people who are severely hard of hearing too.
We use Deaf with a capital D to refer to people who have been deaf all their lives, or since before they started to learn to talk. They are pre-lingually deaf. It is an important distinction because Deaf people tend to communicate in sign language as their first language.