public transportation when you’re deaf/hard of hearing:
By: Katie Norton
Tags: Public Transportation, Hearing Loss, Deaf, Public Transit, Disability

✈️airports✈️

airports can be a very tricky situation to navigate with hearing loss. you have to interact with a lot of people who just want to get you through the line as fast as possible. with cochlear implants, you have to be careful about going through medical detectors as the magnet (inside the head) may get damaged. to avoid this, you have to request a pat down and that can be very uncomfortable for some people for personal reasons, and it adds more time/hassle on to your trip.

there are always announcements about gate changes/delays that are very difficult for someone with just normal hearing to hear. for people with hearing loss, all bets are off. airlines have been better about sending out text alerts which is really helpful. i also use the arrivals/departures screens a lot to figure out updates.

when boarding the plane, boarding groups are announced over the PA system which is very hard for me to understand. when i was traveling alone, i’d often go up to someone and ask them if they could let me know when my boarding group was and explain that im hard of hearing. it can be scary to talk to strangers, but everyone has been more than helpful when i ask. recently, airlines have been adding screens that tell you which group is currently boarding and this is amazing. it depends on the airline, but sometimes if you explain that you have hearing loss, they might let you board first with the priority group to avoid confusion! it doesn’t always work, but sometimes i’ve been able to do this and it’s really helpful.

on the plane, the pre flight demonstration isn’t always accessible to the deaf/hard of hearing or people with bad eyesight. d/hoh people can’t hear the audio associated with the instruction, and people with bad eye sight might not be able to see the demonstration from their seats. even though we all zone out during it, it’s important information to be aware of. sometimes there are transcripts/cards in the seat, but most of the time there isn’t. also, in flight entertainment (movies/individual screens) never has closed captions making them incredibly inaccessible. this puts d/hoh people at a huge disadvantage and forces us to pack more items to entertain ourselves on flights.

🚂 trains/busses 🚂

trains and busses are also very difficult to navigate as a person with hearing loss because they have different stops and it’s hard to hear which one is mine. i have to know exactly how many stops i am on it for and keep a running count in my head some trains and busses have banners that tell you what stop it is, but not all of them. it should be required by law to have a visual marking of all the stops for people with hearing loss. an app updating in real time for stops would also be very helpful.

🚙 uber/lyft 🚙

i don’t take ubers/lifts too often, but when i do i always tap the option for “no talking”. i am a very friendly person and love talking to people, but cars can be hard when there is music playing and i am in the back seat and can’t read the driver’s lips. sometimes they will ask me a simple question and even that is difficult. i feel bad because i do not want to come off as rude, but there is no point in me explaining my hearing loss to a person i’ll be in the car with for 10 minutes and i’ll never see again.