More research into masks

I’m contacting you with regards to the recent Scottish Government guidance for wearing face masks in public and enclosed spaces.  I feel the advice is misplaced and issued without any scientific evidence as to their effectiveness therefore no reason to make this recommendation.

The First Minister contradicted herself by saying there was limited evidence and also that they may be of benefit in the same sentence, which is not really clear guidance. Has anyone asked for clarification on this?

Communication for virtually all deaf and hearing impaired including those who use sign language, relies in part on being able to see someone’s face clearly – whether this is for lip-reading, understanding facial expressions or for understanding non-verbal communication more widely (e.g. seeing whether someone is smiling or looks upset).
Face marks can have the effect of obscuring speech, making it harder for people to make use of any residual hearing they have.


Both myself and my two children are deaf and rely on lip reading to communicate and any move towards wearing face masks whether advised or mandatory would have a massive impact on us and many other families with hearing loss. 

If when the schools go back teachers/pupils are required to wear masks then it would make my childrens education really difficult.  They are already struggling with home schooling as a lot of the online content is video clips and audio and live captions are not to a satisfactorily standard.

I would like to know what considerations have been been made in parliament in regards to the effect this will have on people with hearing loss? Has this been discussed?

The Impact it will
Have on people with hearing loss, sensory issues and communication difficulty is immense.
Not to mention those with other health issues.