This mask is designed to be more inclusive for people with disabilities - World Economic Forum

• Many people around the world now wear masks regularly, but for people with hearing disabilities they can create a real challenge.
• Without seeing people’s lips, they don’t know if they are being addressed.
• Tiffany Yu, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, is distributing windowed masks around the US for free, allowing people to see others’ mouths.
• The masks aren’t just for people who are deaf or hard of hearing - everyone benefits from being able to see when others smile.

Faces half obscured with plain pale blue or colourful fabric have become a familiar sight. On streets, in shops and on public transport, wearing masks has become compulsory in many countries.

The live-saving potential of face coverings is becoming more widely researched - but every mask presents a communication challenge for someone who is deaf or hard of hearing.

“If they can’t hear and they can’t see your lips moving, then they don't know that they're being addressed,” says Tiffany Yu, CEO & Founder of Diversability.

More than 5% of the world’s population is deaf or hard of hearing, according to the World Health Organization - and by 2050, it’s estimated 900 million people will have hearing-related disabilities.

Projected number of people with disabling hearing loss worldwide in 2018, 2030, and 2050.

Image: Statista

Yu, a World Economic Forum Global Shaper, wants to promote the wearing of masks with see-through windows that allow people to read lips. She has set up #Masks4Disability - an initiative to distribute these masks across the United States for free.

Hundreds of masks have already been given out - and now the idea is catching on in places like Sri Lanka too.

Here she explains how it came about and why more accessible masks benefit everyone.

Where did the idea come from?

Tiffany Yu: The Forum’s Equity and Inclusion Steering Committee was hosting a webinar on COVID-19 response, and we had breakout groups related to different different types of communities that were impacted. I started hearing a lot of messages around the fact that masks weren't accessible.

There are inequities that are presented by current N95 masks or current cloth coverings, because a lot of people who are deaf or hard of hearing need to be able to see facial expressions or read lips in their communication.

It made me realize that a lot of large cities like Chicago, San Francisco and New York have launched mutual aid efforts during COVID-19. But what about the smaller cities where you don't have access to a mutual aid network? And some people who are disabled may prefer not to have to go out and collect masks.

So that's why we decided the best way to do this would be to ship them. We partnered with a sustainable fashion brand in Uganda named Kimuli Fashionability to distribute these windowed facemasks to anyone in the US.

The power of business and leadership

The World Economic Forum Platform for Shaping the Future of the New Economy and Society aims to close the disability inclusion gap by driving business action, capturing and disseminating learnings, and leveraging leadership for scale. It serves as an accelerator for the Valuable 500, a global initiative putting disability on the business leadership agenda.

The value of 1.3 billion people

1.3 billion people across the world live with some form of disability – representing 17% of the global population, this is the largest minority group worldwide. 80% of disabilities are acquired between the ages of 18 to 64 – i.e. during working age. People with disabilities are often deprived access to employment and the current global employment rate for disabled people is half that of non-disabled people. People with disabilities who are in employment often experience unequal hiring and promotion standards, unequal pay for equal work and occupational segregation. Only 4% of businesses are focused on making offerings inclusive of disability.

Beyond the moral imperative, there is a strong business case for disability inclusion. The cost of exclusion of people with disabilities represents up to 7% of GDP in some countries. With 28% higher revenue, double net income, 30% higher profit margins, and strong next generation talent acquisition and retention, a disability-inclusive business strategy promises a significant return on investment.

A new standard for workplace equality

The Valuable 500 aims to engage 500 national and multinational private sector corporations to be the tipping point for change and to unlock the business, social and economic value of the 1.3 billion people living with disabilities across the world. Leveraging the collective force of committed businesses, the Valuable 500 work together to:

• Provide peer support to executive business leaders to increase their confidence and competence in disability inclusion
• Operationalize disability inclusion across the value chain by providing tools for companies to advance their Diversity & Inclusion efforts
• Share best practices and benchmarks to assist companies in meeting their commitments and responsibilities to disability inclusion

The initiative was launched at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting in Davos in 2019 and has more than 200 companies committed to date.

How do accessibility solutions benefit us all?

This is one of the things I try and highlight in my work: when you design things for people with disabilities, you actually design things that are better for everybody.

Mainly, these masks are for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, who rely on being able to see your lips moving so they know they're being addressed. But they’re helpful for everyone. That is at the root of inclusive design. Windowed masks let others know that you are smiling or talking to you, even if they can hear well.

It’s the little things that matter right now, when we're not as social as we used to be, like being able to go out and smile at someone, not just through your eyes, but also through being able to see your mouth.

Clear masks can help people be understood.

Image: My Diversability

What inspired you to set up Diversability?

I was involved in a car accident as a kid where my Dad, who was driving, unfortunately passed away. It was a single vehicle car accident. And I acquired a spinal cord injury - known as a brachial plexus injury - that would end up paralyzing one of my arms.

Growing up, I just felt like I didn't really have support. And part of the reason why I started my organization was really wanting to root myself in a community.

Once I rooted myself in a disability community, I became really proud of my disability identity. But what it also made me realize was that I wanted to use whatever power and privilege I had to fight for more disability equity and more disability justice.

What’s next?

We are just planning to continue shipping out as many masks as we can in the US. We will ship out masks until we have no more.

Other cities and countries are interested too - for example, in Colombo, Sri Lanka a Global Shaper is looking to do something similar. I've had requests through from other people who want to start something similar in Uganda.

I want to spread awareness that our current mask culture does create inequities.

A windowed mask is better for people who are deaf or hard of hearing, but also better for everyone.