Waitahora author Sue McCauley on being deaf and contacting call centres

Sue McCauley (last year) at her Waitahora home. Sue says deafness is an invisible disability and it sometimes feels as if deaf people are overlooked. Photo / Leanne Warr

When Sue McCauley-Hammond sees ads for hearing aids, she sees them talking about how tiny they are “so no one should know you’re deaf”.

“The implication seems to be we should be embarrassed about being deaf.

“I’m buggered if I’m going to feel embarrassed.”

Sue, who lives in Waitahora, noticed she had trouble with her hearing some years ago and is now deaf, and uses a hearing aid.

But there are still issues, especially when talking to people in call centres.

She feels it’s an embarrassing situation because she either can’t hear the call centre representative or can’t understand them, especially if they have an accent.

“It’s just horrible to say to someone ‘I can’t hear because of your accent’,” she says.

“I think those poor people in the call centres, they must feel frustrated about it, if they get endless callers like me.”

Sue, who is in her 80s, will often tell them she’s deaf and they offer to speak louder, but it’s not the volume that is the problem, and she asks them to speak slowly.

“I’ve never had anyone be unpleasant. They’re lovely.”

She says the representative always makes a huge effort to accommodate.

“But this shouldn’t be necessary. There should be someone at every call centre who is available for deaf people.”

Sue reiterates that she doesn’t feel it’s the call centre operator’s problem, but more something that should be dealt with by management and it takes understanding that when someone is deaf, or hard of hearing, they can’t hear well and the brain can’t interpret.

“It doesn’t get all the signals it needs to interpret what they’re saying.”

There might be times when she has to ask the person on the line to repeat what they’re saying, but she doesn’t always understand.

“If you don’t get it twice, you need to put it in a different way, but they just persist and keep saying the same word you can’t get over and over again,” Sue says.

“There must be another way of telling me this.”

Like many others her age, Sue isn’t comfortable with using technology such as chat or other online alternatives and living rurally, she can’t guarantee that her internet service will be working.

“I don’t entirely trust those sorts of communications.”

The Hearing Association Tararua is keen to get stories from others experiencing similar problems to Sue and start conversations on how to find solutions to the problem.

The need to raise awareness of such problems is part of the motivation behind World Hearing Day, by the World Health Organisation, held on March 3. This year’s theme is around making ear and hearing care a reality for all.