During a taxi ride, I encountered communication barriers that revealed the driver as a hearing-impaired individual. This phenomenon is not isolated—globally, there are about 430 million hearing-impaired people, many of whom work in the service industry. Yet, they often face misunderstandings and negative feedback due to communication difficulties. This contradiction prompted me to reflect: As society advocates for diversity and inclusion, have we truly provided an equitable support system for the hearing-impaired? Are their challenges being effectively addressed? This project aims to raise public awareness of the hearing-impaired community and explore using book design as a medium to develop visual communication tools, thereby reshaping the interaction between hearing-impaired drivers and passengers.
During another random taxi ride, I encountered a hearing-impaired driver who never answered my phone calls. This made it impossible for us to communicate, and the complete silence during the ride made me reflect on the challenges he faces in this job.
After this experience, I realized that there is a surprisingly high proportion of hearing-impaired drivers nowadays, and they encounter many difficulties in their work. For example, communication issues with passengers often lead to incomplete information exchange, and some people even look at them with judgmental eyes.
Some research i found during
daily life&some problems with them
What are the current issues faced by the hearing-impaired community?
Based on society's current recognition of the employment challenges faced by the hearing-impaired, I have created a chart to categorize the issues:
First, regarding employment for the hearing-impaired, most companies use "communication difficulties" and "disability" as excuses to make works harder for them. As my research shows, many hearing-impaired individuals have shared their experiences of unfair treatment at work.
Second, for hearing-impaired drivers, most passengers assume that being disabled means they are incapable of driving safely. They view this as irresponsible and even protest against it.
1
Public opinion tends to be critical of hearing-impaired drivers, with concerns over safety and doubts about their suitability for the job.
2
For the hearing-impaired, employment difficulties involve not just communication and job limitations, but also social prejudice and discrimination.
I created hand-drawn designs and final design was ring-bound and suspended from the taxi's interior with a cord, about a book on deaf drivers, sign language stickers, and awareness signage, to promote better communication with the hearing-impaired.
