Annabelle Xerri can no longer follow what people are saying to her – she cannot lipread through face masks.

Still, she is relieved that most people are finally wearing them because vulnerable people – like her three-year-old daughter Emily – need to be protected from the dreaded coronavirus.

“I am now communicating less, I do not know what everyone is laughing about and I have no idea what the shop assistant is saying,” she says.

“Being left out of conversations was already a part of my life before the masks, so can you even begin to imagine how much more difficult it is now that everyone is wearing a mask?”

In spite of this, she says she is feeling more at ease when she steps outside the house. 

If you hate it, as a deaf person I can give you a hundred and one more valid reasons why I hate it more

“We have a medically vulnerable daughter. It is far more important for me that she is protected than to be part of conversations,” Annabelle, president of the Deaf People Association Malta, wrote in a Facebook post.

In her message, she urges everyone to follow the new rule on wearing face masks outside the home.

The measure did make it tougher for the deaf community, she admits.

“But my daughter is safer and so are many other vulnerable people,” she says.

Her daughter has a rare, life-threatening disease – a type of inborn error of metabolism that renders her vulnerable to the virus. Throughout the pandemic, Annabelle has felt unsafe leaving the house with her daughter given that so many people do not wear masks all the time.

“I do not like the new masked world one tiny bit. It is, by far, too lonely and challenging. But I am not complaining at all because it is safer this way,” she says.

“Please wear a damn mask. If you hate it, as a deaf person I can give you a hundred and one more valid reasons why I hate it more.

“If you are not afraid of this pandemic, at least please think about the vulnerable.”

Annabelle became deaf at the age of six. She first learned to lipread and eventually learned sign language – something that immediately improved her life and opened up new opportunities. As chairperson of the Maltese Sign Language Council, she encourages people to learn some basic sign language to support the deaf community.

The young mother uses her Facebook page ‘A Silent World’ to lobby about the importance of sign language and raises awareness about the deaf community.

Facebook: Maltese Sign Language Council. Maltese Sign Language Dictionary at https://mlrs.research.um.edu.mt. Basic signs at https://crpd.org.mt/