College student makes face masks for the deaf and hard of hearing
With the COVID-19 crisis and news being forced in front of us every day, we have to be careful that we don’t allow the bad news to take us to dark places mentally. One of the best ways to combat all of the bad news that we hear so often is to look at good news! Positive and uplifting news is always something that can raise the spirits and remind of the good in the world around us.
This college student made headlines when she did something to help those who needed it.
A college student named Ashley Lawrence was bored at home one day when she realized she could do something valuable with her extra time. With all colleges currently dismissed from live classes, many students are finding themselves with extra time on their hands. In the town of Versailles, Kentucky, Ashley started thinking of ideas that could help in a time where the world needed it.
Ashley got her initial idea from Facebook!
While scrolling through Facebook, Ashley kept on seeing that people were making homemade masks instead of continuing to throw away reusable ones in a time where the medical professionals needed it. In an interview with Lex18, she said:
“I just saw that people were making masks on Facebook for everyone to have instead of the throwaway masks, and I was like, what about the deaf and hard of hearing population?”
She thought of the idea honestly. Ashley currently goes to school and is studying in a very particular field.
Many of us would never even think of how our actions would affect people from different walks of life. We don’t do it out of spite, it’s just not something we are exposed to. Ashely, however, is a senior at Eastern Kentucky University and is studying education for the deaf and hard of hearing. These people are not on most of our minds, but they were all Ashley could think about.
“I felt like there was a huge population that was being looked over,” Lawrence said. “We’re all panicking right now and so a lot of people are just not being thought of. So, I felt like it was very important that, even at a time like this, people need to have that communication.”
After talking to her mom, they got to work.
Taking supplies from around the house, Ashley began making masks that would allow the hard of hearing to read lips! Using bed sheets and plastic, they began to sow the strips of plastic into the masks that would allow people to see the mouths of the person wearing the mask.
“And people who are profoundly deaf who use ASL as their primary mode of communication. ASL is very big on facial expressions and it is part of the grammar. So I don’t know if you have seen Virginia Moore on Andy Beshear’s things at five o’clock, but she’s very emotive, and if half of that is gone because you’re wearing a mask then half of what you’re saying is being missed, so even if it’s not physically talking and just using ASL, then you need to have that kind of access.”
Ashley is giving them away, completely free.
Doing it out of the kindness of her own heart, it is pretty incredible to see how people are doing things to help people.
You can check out Ashley’s GoFundMe page below!
Please SHARE this with your friends and family.