We headed down to the launch of Let’s Loop Swindon, an initiative which encourages businesses in the local area to make themselves more accessible to the hard of hearing. There we caught up with two of the members of the Rotary Community Corps who are working to launch this project to find out why it’s so important to them…
You may think that standing in a queue to buy a cup of coffee would never be a nerve racking experience. But that isn’t the case for Lin Barker, who was diagnosed with hearing loss a few years ago. Lin, and the 10 million other people who experience a form of hearing loss in the UK, are struggling to perform simply everyday tasks such as shopping at the local supermarket, due to a lack of functioning hearing loops in shops and businesses.
“Being hard of hearing is still a source of embarrassment for me, because shops often don’t have the appropriate equipment for me to be able to hear what the assistant is saying. I feel so nervous when I approach a till because I cannot be sure that when I get there I will be able to understand what is being said,” Lin describes.
It is experiences such as these that inspired Lin to join a team of Rotary Community Corps who are working together with national charity Hearing Link to encourage businesses in and around the Swindon area to have efficient working loops that the staff are trained to use effectively.
The Community Corp, which was set up by Tim Mason and the Click 4 Action eRotary club, has been heading into banks, pharmacies, shops, and many more to perform audits of their loops and signage to identify which businesses are performing well and which need improvement when it comes to their facilities.
This information is then passed on to Hearing Link UK and Swindon Borough Council who will then work together to try and encourage businesses to make themselves more accessible to those who are hard of hearing within the area.
Stephen Aftelak, another member of the Community Corp who suffers with hearing loss, explains: “There is still very much a stigma around hearing loss, and as a result many people are diagnosed late as they don’t want to admit that they are losing their ability to hear.
“We can change that Stigma and the first step is to make people with hearing loss feel more included in public spaces, by making it the norm to have working and readily available hearing loops.”
The official launch of Let’s Loop Swindon was held at the National Trust Headquarters in Swindon and was attended by representatives from a number of the organisations that are involved including the Chief Executive of Hearing Link UK, Dr Lorraine Gailey, the leader of Swindon Borough council David Renard and the Business Development Manager of leading loop manufacturer Contacta, Andrew Thomas. It follows the launch of other similar Let’s Loop schemes across the country, including a particularly successful campaign in Eastbourne.
Tim comments: “I am very proud of all the work that has been put into Let’s Loop Swindon by both the Rotary Community Corps and the supporting organisations. We have the opportunity to really make a difference to the lives of people affected by hearing loss in this area and if we all pull together we can persuade local businesses to make a change.”
Click here for more information on the Let’s Loop Swindon initiative.
Box Out
What is a hearing loop?
A hearing loop consists of a physical loop of cable or an array of looped of cables which are placed around a designated area, usually a room or a building. The cable generates a magnetic field throughout the looped space which can be picked up by a hearing aid
Fact File
- 10 million people in the UK suffers hearing loss
- 3.7 million are of working age
- 6.5 million are aged 60
- 2 million people use hearing aids
- 800,000 are severely or profoundly deaf
This article was first published in the April edition of our Rotary Magazine.
