I am at a school today to visit a student. I explained to the staff that the student is deaf and they use the outside intercom speaker system to summon her. After several attempts they have no luck. I explain to the school office that the student is deaf and probably finds secondhand speaker voices over the intercom to be incredibly challenging to her. It is a difficult to choose the right wording to act as advocate for the child in these situations. Some people react poorly to being asked to modify previous behaviour, others don't understand the need of the child, often stating things like "Oh, but its really loud" or "...but he always hears the bell when it goes" forgetting that our students use so many other cues to be able to cope at school other than hearing.
I now carry a set of brochures (assist made) that I subtly hand out when faced with this situation. It saves me having to confront people and allows a subject to read and think about the barriers rather that just 'react'.
