Turning a Crisis into Finding a Solution
Leala Lierman, who has congenital hearing loss, was in her final semester at UNR, planning to teach deaf children in the Philippines, when COVID-19 hit.
Instead, the 31-year-old decided to teach herself how to sew, found a 25-year old machine, and called her mom on FaceTime. Her initial idea was just to make standard masks for herself and coworkers at the Washoe Public House restaurant where she works. But then it went much further.
“I was proud of my new skill and happy to help until I realized how detrimental these masks were to my communication abilities,” she writes on the About page of her Nevada Smiles website. “Not only do they muffle sound, but they block visual access for speech and lipreading. When interacting with guests at the restaurant, I found it harder to connect. My smile and expression become muted and obsolete behind a standard mask.”
She now makes what she calls equal access masks, which have mouth visibility, so smiles can be seen and lips can be read while wearing them.
“Normal cloth face coverings and masks not only lower the overall sound decibel of speech production but also eliminate the majority of spoken language visual cues,” she wrote to us in an email interview, explaining the particular usefulness of the masks she now sells online for $25.
“Listening takes a tremendous amount of effort in ways people with normal hearing might not consider. Normal masks leave me feeling lost and left to guess what the person in front of me is saying.”
The Reno High and Western Nevada College graduate also has a special kit for teachers, with four masks with mouth visibility going for $75. Leala’s own educational background is in Deaf Studies, audiology and speech therapy. “Needless to say, communication (spoken and signed) is near and dear to my heart. I would have struggled tremendously if my teachers were in normal masks... like probably not passed,” she wrote to us.
“My masks are a two layer material mask with a clear vinyl window,” she explained to us in an email. “The inside material is 100% cotton and the outside is a patterned cotton blend. Every mask is completed with adjustable ear straps, a metal nose piece and is machine washable.”
Extras Added and Extra Challenges
Masks she sells come in a burlap bag printed with the Nevada smiles logo, an all natural anti fog roller and use/care instructions.
“Why the bag? Two reasons: I want people to have a clean space to store their mask when it isn't on their face - especially in a setting like a restaurant or school… I don't want to set my mask down on a dirty surface. Additionally, the bags serve as packaging. I didn't want to use plastic and I was able to source these burlap bags at a surprisingly reasonable cost,” she explained to us.
She says these masks are quite challenging and time consuming to make, but worth it. “They're soooooo much harder and more complicated than a normal face covering,” she wrote. “ The biggest challenge is working with the vinyl. We are not pinning anything into place before sewing. If we were to pin the vinyl to the material, the process would be a LOT easier. Unfortunately, sticking pins in the front of a face covering leaves holes and therefore defeats the purpose. Additionally, if the corners of the mask are not folded and sewn correctly, the mask does not maintain shape and you end up with the vinyl pressed against your lips.”
After getting initial help from her Mom, she has now hired one worker to keep up with the demand she is getting.
A similar company called ClearMask, which started before the pandemic, after a deaf patient had gone through a negative surgery experience, lists many other beneficiaries of these types of masks, including older people, people whose first language is not the same as the one being spoken, children, interpreters, people experiencing stress and anxiety, customer-facing employees and workers in noisy environments.
For the hard of hearing and Deaf communities, Leala says it’s a constant battle, which goes beyond masks. “Here's two current examples: YouTube is considering ending their Closed Caption service. The White House is currently being sued by members of The National Association of the Deaf for not providing a sign language interpreter at any of Trump's Covid announcements... or any of his speeches at all for that matter. I had to fight tooth and nail at UNR to get the accommodations I deserved for my hearing loss. We all deserve the right to equal access.”
“For me, the biggest goal, and true motivation behind my business is to start a conversation and raise awareness. Many individuals who are d/Deaf (According to Access Innovation Media, the "uppercase D" Deaf is used to describe people who identify as culturally Deaf and are actively engaged with the Deaf community) and hard of hearing are really struggling right now. However, we are no stranger to this struggle. We fight for communication access allllllll the time,” Leala wrote to us.
The Benefit of Seeing More Smiles
“Honestly, the fact that you can see a smile is a big deal,” the local entrepreneur wrote to us in her email interview. “Especially right now, living in hard times, a smile can change a lot. There are a number of specific groups that would benefit from a mask style like this: for example, individuals on the Autism Spectrum are far more likely to withdraw in situations where they struggle to read social cues. Normal face coverings take away a lot of social cues - pursed lips, smirk, smile, snarl, frown. Accompanied with sunglasses and all facial cues are erased entirely. I previously mentioned teachers - in elementary school teachers are a primary emotional model. So, not only do they need these masks for teaching phonetics, but also to show students how to interact socially,” she explained.
Leala also makes custom masks for special orders and has an extensive range of styling. “I have masks in everything from solid black to camo to pink polka-dots,” she said, while also following current recommended standards set by the World Health Organization and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
She says she’s tired of debating about whether or not masks are needed in the first place. “Our community needed a solution because the masks were here to stay for a while so I decided to create that solution. “
She is optimistic Northern Nevada will finally flatten the curve. “It's just a matter of time,” she wrote. While putting her southeast Asia travel plans on hold, she is trying to stay as safe as she can, while supplementing her mask income bartending, nannying and tutoring in ASL.
“I love our community here. I think it's very unique, strong and resilient,” she writes to conclude our email interview.