Deaf Mundelein massage therapist anticipates a tougher time in masked environment

Jennie Halvorsen sees a frustrating future for her massage therapy business in an age of social distancing.

Halvorsen, 52, of Mundelein, runs Touch of Health Therapeutic Massage, and she's concerned not only about how the proximity of masseuse and client contradicts with the requirement to stay 6 feet away from others. She's also worried about the new statewide order to wear masks in indoor public places, primarily because she is deaf.

"A lot of my interactions with people are through lip-reading because I'm more of an oralist than a person who uses predominantly American Sign Language," said Halvorsen, who grew up learning to write and speak English before her hearing loss, caused by a childhood case of the measles, progressed to the profound level when she was in her 30s.

"This (mask requirement) is like a double-edged sword. It hit me the other day that I have to wear a mask, my client has to wear a mask and there's going to be no interaction in terms of when they come into the office."

Halvorsen said she's still awaiting guidance from massage industry groups about how to safely reopen when the COVID-19 pandemic begins to wane. And she's awaiting a chance to reapply for unemployment insurance benefits, which she said initially were denied based on her income.

In the meantime, her top concern is communication.

Drive-throughs are the worst, Halvorsen said, because they often don't include visual cues of when to speak or how the order has been entered to confirm its accuracy. Visual cues can be handy during shopping excursions, like the time she figured out what the cashier at Jewel must have been saying because he was holding up Monopoly game pieces.

When masks cover everyone's faces, Halvorsen said, she plans to rely more on the Live Transcribe app for her Android phone. The app provides instant written versions of spoken communication.

But much will be lost, she predicts, when facial expressions are hidden behind coverings designed to prevent the spread of the new virus.

"I know they're trying to protect people," she said about the mask requirements, which went into effect in several suburbs before Gov. J.B. Pritzker's statewide order kicked in Friday. "In terms of the whole shopping experience, it's just going to add another layer of frustration."

Halvorsen, a board member for the Lake County Center for Independent Living, said she is pushing for changes to help people communicate across barriers of deafness or hearing difficulties. She hopes to see increased use of clear face masks, live transcription apps, visuals at drive-throughs and cash registers, sign language interpretation during news conferences and education on basic sign language skills.

"We need the public and politicians to also be more sensitive to these challenges," she said. "We're all in this together, and to overcome this, we need to continue to work together, come up with creative solutions."