Editor:
Re: Sound reason against niqabs, Oct. 14 letters.
I read with dismay the letter to the editor using “hearing-impaired people” as a reason against niqabs.
I don’t know what the letter writer means by hearing-impaired, a politically incorrect term.
Having been deaf all my 71 years of life and especially having had absolutely no hearing to impair in the first place, I must object to her ill-conceived fantasy that deaf people in general can lip read. English is one of the most unlipreadable languages on the planet with no more than 25 per cent of English words being somewhat clearly lipreadable!
That is the main reason we deaf people must resort to the American Sign Language, the language I believe the letter writer has chosen not to learn and appreciate. She owes deaf people an apology for prolonging this horrendous misconception of the wonders of lip reading.
As for the niqabs, I’m neutral but condemn the Conservatives for their narrow-mindedness. Let the ladies who wear them decide for themselves.
Wayne Sinclair, Surrey
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My only concern with the niqab is security. It’s a matter of time before some bad guy would don a niqab masquerading as a female to commit crime, and those security video cameras wouldn’t be of much help in solving the crime.
Fen Kong Liew, Surrey
