Josie Gibson is "so proud" of her brother for discussing the difficulties of being deaf during the pandemic.
Josie Gibson
The 35-year-old reality star has opened up the struggles her brother Harry has had to deal with over the past few months, particularly when it comes to being forced to wear masks.
Appearing on ITV's 'This Morning' on Thursday (22.10.20), Harry and his wife used sign language, as Josie explained what they were saying.
Speaking for Harry, she said: "Masks are impacting our life because we can’t communicate with other people. I have to take down my mask and remind people that I am deaf and that I need to lip read.
"Sometimes they refuse to take their mask down and that’s frustrating for us, and we just have to get on with it but we shouldn’t have to.
"It’s hard to go out and do things, for example I have to wear a mask to drop my girls off to school and it feels lonely not to be able to have a chat with other mums because we all have to wear masks.
"Going to the shop I don’t understand staff because they are wearing masks and I can’t tell if they are talking to me.
"We rely on signing and lip reading, and so it’s difficult for us, we are fed up having to explain ourselves why we aren’t wearing masks and having to explain that we are deaf, and having to explain we are lip reading…”
Josie insisted the deaf community have been "forgotten about" during the pandemic.
Clearly emotional, she added: "I’m so proud of my brother and his wife for that because they were so nervous doing that…
"And I really do think the deaf community have been quite forgotten about during this pandemic, and they’ve just given them a voice so I could not be prouder.”
While there are exceptions to the mask rules, Josie insisted people need to be made more aware of the sunflower lanyard, which reveals a person is exempt.
She said: "Some have refused to lower their masks and this is why people need to recognise the sunflower lanyards…
"I can understand people seeing others that haven’t got a mask on and thinking, ‘you’re putting my health at risk’ but if they just recognised this sunflower as somebody with a hidden disability they might leave them alone.”
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