One of the most important things to do is to try to walk in someone else's shoes. It's incredible the amount of insight you'll find. All of us suffer from struggles of our own, but for Shannon Heroux, that struggle is with hearing.
Shannon is deaf. And while she has a cochlear implant to help her hear, she primarily relies on lip reading for communication. While wearing a mask has been absolutely beneficial with helping contain the health crisis, many people in the deaf community have had to adjust to this big change. While masks intended for those who lip-read have been created, it's hard to force employees of establishments like Dunkin' to wear them.
Shannon is a reminder that it might not be the worst idea. All she wanted was a cup of coffee, but she ended up leaving in tears.
As Shannon explained in an Instagram video, she's actually able to talk somewhat well since she wasn't born deaf. She was once able to hear without help and was able to talk. The hearing loss happened when she was only 4. She spent a lot of her childhood working with speech pathologists to get to where she is now.
Shannon was driving for Uber when she chose to stop at Dunkin' for a coffee. When she went in, she pulled her mask down slightly to say that she was deaf. Because of their masks, and the fact that they were behind plexiglass, Shannon couldn't hear what the cashier or the manager was saying.
"I keep telling him, 'I'm deaf, I can't hear you. I'm deaf, I can't hear you,'" she told Today. "And he was still speaking to me. I can tell when people are talking because the mask moves, obviously. And I kept saying, 'I can't hear you, I need to read your lips.'"
Shannon then thought to write down her order, but nobody at Dunkin' had a pen. Eventually, the manager just shook his head and denied service. She got back in her car and couldn't believe what happened.
Luckily, the story has somewhat of a happy ending. After Shannon told her story, the manager reached out to apologize. However, interactions like this happen every day, and restaurants and fast-food establishments should develop a better protocol so that everyone gets served.
Inside Edition spoke with Shannon — watch and see what else she has to say.
