By Pepper Parr
Jan 20th, 2020
BURLINGTON, ON
Wearing a mask we are told is now what we should be doing to prevent the Covid virus from being transmitted from person to person.
Many of the handmade masks are quite creative and many retail locations now have a supply.
Kim Reid and Lisa Faria use sign language to communicate and rely on being able to read the faces of people they are communicating with. The masks allow their mouths to be seen. Both are at the Bob Rumball Canadian Centre of Excellence for the Deaf
What about segments of the population – particularly the deaf who depend on the facial expression of the person they are “talking” to?
The masks are made of 100% cotton and come in bright patterns.
A former Milton Town Council member, Jan Mowbray, who led the making of 3,000 masks for Burlington residents serves as a Board member of the Bob Rumball Canadian Centre of Excellence for the Deaf.
She was acutely aware of the problems deaf people have and designed and then made 400 masks for Rumble residents.
Jan Mowbray at her sewing machine stitching the ties for the masks
Mowbray worked out a design, then created a template from which she cut the fabric and then glued in the piece of plastic that covers the mouth.
“It was long painstaking work” said Mowbray, who went through several designs to come up with what she was finally satisfied with.
Kim Reid and Lisa Faria are delighted with the masks they now have.
Note: Anyone wishing to purchase masks made for those who are hard of hearing and need to be able to read the lips of those they are communicating with please be in touch with: seamstress@hwkp.com
