‘Mum’s fury as deaf girl, 8, is ‘turned away’ from shop for not wearing face mask and staff ‘demanded proof’
A MUM was left furious after her deaf daughter, eight, was 'turned away' from a shop for not wearing a face mask and staff 'demanded proof' from her.
Julie Muller, 41, and her eight-year-old Sadie-Grace, are exempt from wearing face masks as they need to lip-read to communicate with each other.
The pair were stopped outside of a Cotswold Outdoor shop in Newcastle on August 8, when Ms Muller pointed out her daughter was wearing hearing implants.
However, she was turned away and was left 'heartbroken.'
Ms Muller said she was stopped at the entrance by a worker who asked where her mask was.
She told the worker: "I'm exempt because my daughter's deaf and she needs to be able to read my lips."
The 41-year-old was then asked for proof of the disability, and she said: "You can have a look on her head."
She added: "I embarrassed my daughter. I showed her the implants on her head."
But the employee allegedly replied: "That's not good enough, I need paper proof."
The government guidelines state that "If you are speaking to or providing assistance to someone who relies on lip-reading, clear sound or facial expressions to communicate" then you do not need to wear a face mask in shops.
"As soon as the store manager was made aware that the customer needed her daughter to be able to see her mouth to lip read, the manager welcomed the customers into the store without requiring them to wear a face covering.
"However, he did explain that we wouldn’t be able to provide them with any full close-contact services such as boot fitting, at that time."