FOR the past two years, I have carried a Sympathetic Hearing Scheme card, which, when shown in banks, shops, etc, tells that the bearer is deaf or hearing impaired.

Recently, I decided to try it out to see what reaction it got. In the bank, I handed it over and the assistant did as the card requested, making it easier for me to understand her.

Then, I went to a large store and got a totally different reaction. The assistant glanced at it and seeing it wasn't a credit card, didn't pick it up but just ignored it.

The Sympathetic Hearing Scheme is one of the many things we are told about during the lip reading courses at Blackburn College which I have been attending for the past two years.

Being hard of hearing made me quite withdrawn, but after starting to learn to lip read, I now feel more confident about mixing with others.

I have also learned how to use the 'loop' systems in churches, cinemas and theatres and how to get aids for the telephone to make life a little easier.

All this was because I plucked up the courage to enrol for lip reading lessons.

W GREGSON (Mrs), St Aidans Avenue, Blackburn.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.