The evidence tells us that many deaf people and people with hearing loss have to navigate barriers that most passengers never have to think about when using public transport.
Here, we show how what those barriers are like in practice, with two stories from Sarah and Charlotte.
Sarah’s story shows how inaccessible information adds stress when trains are cancelled, and support from fellow passengers can be crucial. And Charlotte shares how lack of access and deaf awareness creates a layer of anxiety whenever she travels.
Sarah’s story
Sarah, 25, lives in Erith and works as an audiologist.
Sarah was born with hearing, but when she was aged two or three, her mum noticed she was not responding when being called, and her speech was not as developed as that of her brothers and sisters.
Sarah was diagnosed with enlarged vestibular aqueducts (EVA), a condition where the hearing canal does not develop properly resulting in hearing loss.
Sarah was given hearing aids and wore those until she decided at age 19 to have cochlear implants. Here she talks about dealing with a train cancellation without accessible information.
Charlotte’s story
Charlotte, 44, lives in Cumbria with her husband Lee, son Freddy and dog Buddy.
After years of trying to manage severe hearing loss with hearing aids, lip reading and coping strategies, Charlotte had cochlear implant surgery. This has been life-changing. Charlotte’s confidence has increased so much that she’s changed careers and launched her own podcast.
Yet travelling on public transport remains a challenge. Here Charlotte describes her experiences when travelling solo and how it can leave her feeling worried, frustrated and exhausted.
A layer of nervousness when travelling
When I’m travelling on my own, it can be quite nerve wracking. It can make me anxious because there are a lot of unknowns, particularly when announcements are made or train times change.
There’s a sense of having to rely on public transport and knowing that there’s going to be reactive changes, and it can be quite difficult to navigate that. There’s always a layer of nervousness if I’m travelling. What if something happens and I don’t hear it? What if I miss something?”
Left in an empty train carriage
Prior to getting my cochlear implant, I had a few experiences that really knocked my confidence using the train.
I remember travelling down to London on a train and at Warrington, everyone literally piled off. I looked around and initially thought it was just a busy stop. I sat there for what felt like ages, with no idea what was going on. It was actually really scary. I was thinking, ’Crikey, I’ve not idea what’s going on’. I felt isolated and nervous and just really foolish, to be honest.”
Lack of deaf awareness from the train manager
Eventually the train manager came over and said, ‘Why have you not got off?’ I’d missed an announcement over the tannoy. I was so embarrassed that I apologised. He told me to get my stuff and then he rushed me off the train. I didn’t even have a chance to explain I had hearing loss, so I felt like an absolute idiot.
When I got to the platform, there was nothing at all on any visual boards saying what was going on. I remember thinking, ‘What am I going to do?’ I thought I’d have to phone my husband or my parents to see if they could come and get me.
Finally, the display board showed when the next train was coming. It meant I was really delayed, which messed up my plans when I got to London. But the worst thing was the whole stress of not knowing what the heck was going on, feeling like an idiot, and no staff members having any consideration that someone might not be able to understand what’s going on. That kind of thing definitely impacts my confidence travelling on public transport.”
Planning ahead and staying alert
If possible, I always prefer to travel with someone. But if I’m alone, I plan in advance and look at earlier train times so that I’ve got more time to sort things out if anything happens and figure out what’s going on. So planning head is a big thing for me. Rather than sticking to set train times, I’ll try and do an open return because it gives me a bit more leeway.
If I’m travelling alone, I really feel like I have to keep my wits about me. I have to be more switched on, so it can be exhausting just to travel a short distance because my senses are on hyper alert.”
Making public transport more accessible
I’d like to see more visual displays on public transport so that I’m not relying on tannoy announcements. Another improvement would be staff having more deaf awareness. That way, if you go to someone and say, ‘I’m deaf,’ they’ll have an understanding of how to support you.
I think there’s a lot that can be done with technology. It’s great to see stations that use British Sign Language (BSL) video boards, but there’s so much more that can be done – and in this day and age, needs to be done.”