Young Cashier Who Can Read Lips Overcomes Challenges Of Mask-Wearing During Pandemic
TRURO – Abbie Langille is a talented and determined young woman. The athletic high school graduate from Truro has played soccer, volleyball, track and field, and basketball throughout her childhood. Abbie is so good at sports, she is able to play on Canada’s women’s volleyball team for the deaf, which has taken her to places like Brazil and France.
She is also caring and compassionate and is considering getting into a career where she works with children or the elderly. But Abbie also has a talent few others possess: she can read lips. Unfortunately, it led to some problems at her workplace when mask-wearing became mandatory.
Abbie was born deaf and has been learning to read lips for as long as she can remember, and even before that. Her lip-reading ability, combined with cochlear implants she received when she was 13 months old, has allowed her to interact with people all her life. Abbie is so good at reading lips she hasn’t used much sign language in recent years.
“I’ve learned to lip-read since I was born,” said Abbie. “Lip reading to me is pretty accurate; I’ll have my friends say, ‘lip-read things’ and I’ll repeat what they had said back to them.”
Abbie’s mother, Kristen Langille, has always been amazed by her daughter’s communication skills, recalling how she could read strangers’ lips from across a restaurant when she was six years old. Kristen is also proud of all of Abbie’s accomplishments despite being deaf.
“She can read lips like you wouldn’t believe,” said Kristen. “She can be without her cochlear implant and I can have a full conversation with her without using sign language.”
“She really never struggled. Basically, she’s gone to school with all the same girls from elementary right to graduation. They all played varsity sports. It never held her back in any way; she gets amazing grades…”
Because of her ability to read lips, Abbie has led a successful academic and social life, almost unhindered by her deafness. But things became more challenging in July of 2020 when she took a job as a cashier at Giant Tiger in the middle of the Covid-19 pandemic. When everyone began wearing masks in public places, it became impossible for Abbie to read lips. This has led to some customers becoming frustrated and even accusing Abbie of having an attitude problem.
“Some challenges I face is having customers think I’m ignoring them due to not being able to hear,” explains Abbie. “When asked to repeat themselves they get frustrated since I rely on lip-reading to fill in the blanks, especially in loud areas.”
When customers get upset with her over the miscommunication, Abbie gets frustrated with herself. But she doesn’t let it ruin her day or keep her from a job she enjoys doing.
“I feel very disappointed and frustrated myself and hurt. I usually just try my best to let it go and not let it ruin my day or go out back and just pull myself together.”
But earlier this month, an incident with a customer led to Abbie putting up a sign at her cash explain that she is deaf and for people to be kindly patient. A woman, according to Abbie and Kristen, complained to Giant Tiger twice in a span of a week. This customer, apparently, felt that Abbie wasn’t listening to her and had a “tone.”
Kristen was tired, at this point, of Abbie having to deal with rude people at work. So, the mother made a post on social media explaining the situation, along with a picture of Abbie at her cash with the new sign. The post quickly went viral, with the Langilles getting supportive messages all over the world.
“I didn’t anticipate that this would blow up, but I was just so tense that this same lady called for the second time after she already knew the circumstance,” explained Kristen.
Kristen knew she did the right thing when she started receiving messages from other hearing-impaired people who related to Abbie’s experiences.
In this case, something positive came out of a bad experience. Since putting up the sign, customers have been much friendlier and patient with Abbie. She adds that all of her coworkers and management at Giant Tiger have been very supportive since she started working there in July.
“Customers have been so kind, asking lots of questions about being hearing impaired and some have even said ‘thank you’ in sign language, which has been so awesome to see,” said Abbie.
When asked what advice she would give to other hearing-impaired people who want to enter the workforce, Abbie said it’s important to stay positive, and not let a few negative experiences drag oneself down.
“I would say just have patience and don’t let the negativity weigh out the positivity, and just be yourself and be proud of who you are.”