Businesses turn a deaf ear

Hearing-impaired customers seldom accommodated

The deaf and hearing-impaired make up 20% of the disabled population in South Africa, and the total disabled population makes up only 5% of the entire population, according to data gathered during Statistics SA's 2001 census.

Gert Els, who is a member of this minority within a minority, believes these small numbers are the reason why businesses do not make an effort to accommodate deaf customers.

"There are little to no hearing people, such as sales assistants, who understand sign language or take the trouble to assist deaf or hard-of-hearing people," he said. "Businesses are not really interested in training their staff to provide services to us and would easily turn their backs on you, rather than put in some extra effort."

Most television viewers are familiar with the ubiquitous insurance advertisements which promise a call from a consultant after viewers send certain keywords via a text message.

"It's totally inaccessible to us," said Els.

Deaf customers also have a lot of problems with banks.

"When I go to do my banking [at Absa Mimosa Mall], it tends to be stressful at times," said a customer from Bloemfontein, who requested anonymity. "Sometimes I try to arrange that someone in my family will come with me and help, but, just like any other person, you want to try to do it alone."

A hard-of-hearing person who banks with FNB's Silverton branch in Pretoria said: "When you ask them to speak louder because you can't hear properly, they just ignore you and carry on talking softly, and they get upset. I had to ask my mother to help me at a bank counter because I couldn't hear anything."

Barry de Witt, CEO of FNB Banking Channels, said Silverton was a high-traffic branch with bulletproof glass surrounding the tellers' counters, which was perhaps why the deaf customers experienced problems there.

"We are not always aware that a customer has a particular disability," he said. "But should this be brought to our attention, we will gladly go the extra mile to help. FNB continually upgrades its branches to improve service and communication with all our customers."

The customer said they should do what the Absa branch in Worcester does. "They have posters in sign language in most places, and they also teach the community how to communicate with deaf and hard-of-hearing people."

FNB promised to follow up on this complaint.

"Staff are expected, and trained, to make a special effort to assist customers who have a disability," said De Witt.

"For example, written communication with hearing-impaired customers is a more effective way of ensuring that there is no misunderstanding."

Absa's head office has caused a lot of headaches for Louise Turnbull.

"[They] would phone me all the time because I have a credit account with them," she said. "They don't know that I am deaf, and they can be rude over the phone.

"My mom would speak to the bank on my behalf. My mom and I have told them thousands of times to rather e-mail me or SMS me. I even personally e-mailed them."

A spokesman for Absa apologised for any inconvenience experienced by Turnbull and the Bloemfontein customer.

"It was very insensitive to call the customer repeatedly. The matter will be fully investigated, as such behaviour is unacceptable," he said.

He said it was a priority for Absa employees to assist customers with hearing impairments and to make their banking experience as comfortable as possible.

He provided a list of customer service interventions meant to assist the disabled, including Braille layouts on ATM pads and special bank cards. But all of these were geared towards people with "visible disabilities", such as the visually impaired and those in wheelchairs.

Pressed to explain what specific interventions Absa had made for the deaf and hard of hearing, he said: "We try to communicate with them in their most convenient mechanism - face to face, SMS and/or e-mail. Absa is constantly looking at more ways and tools of communicating with our customer base, including the hearing impaired, and we will be able to communicate these in due course."

The customer from Bloemfontein said she was recently at OR Tambo International departing for Israel with a tour group. The tour leader told airport security beforehand that she read lips and they should look at her when speaking.

"Immediately they knew how to work with me. They were very nice, calm and friendly," she said. "But when I returned from Israel and I went to the [SA Express] domestic departures, one lady was so rude to me that it was appalling to see the contrast.

"I had told her kindly that I read lips and have hearing loss, and that she should repeat what she just said by looking at me and speaking slowly. She was so offensive towards me."

Lulu Bam, a spokesman for SA Express, said the OR Tambo departures staff was not employed by the airline.

"SA Express is handled by SAA in OR Tambo airport, meaning that the first time that a person will interact with our staff is when they actually board our plane," said Bam.

She said apart from being trained to be sensitive to hearing-impaired passengers' needs and to not raise their voices unless asked to, cabin crew would show and ask them to read the safety features card. In the event of an emergency, cabin crew would personally assist these passengers during an evacuation.