Ashley Lawrence is a college senior from Versailles, Kentucky who is currently grappling with what most young people in the United States are: boredom. For weeks now, social distancing measures have been put in place that relegate people mostly to their own homes except for critical trips outside, like grocery stores or pharmacies. But it was during a bout of boredom that Ashley had an amazing idea.

Nearly every country on Earth right now is grappling with a coronavirus outbreak that causes COVID-19, a sometimes deadly respiratory infection. Because of this, personal protective equipment, or PPEs, are in extremely high demand. One of these being N95 surgical masks.

According to the CDC, N95 face masks reduce the wearer’s exposure to airborne particles, some of which may contain the coronavirus. Properly fitted masks can filter out 95% of airborne particles. [1] But one problem is that these masks are opaque, others cannot see through them. This presents a unique difficulty for the deaf or hearing impaired who might rely on reading lips as a way of communicating.

“I just saw that people were making masks on Facebook for everyone to have instead of the throwaway masks, and I was like, what about the deaf and hard of hearing population?” Lawrence told LEX18, a local news station. [2]

For Lawrence, the issue hits close to her field of study. Currently, she studies education for the deaf and hard of hearing at Eastern Kentucky University. Her university, like most, is shut down. She has moved back home and is taking her classes remotely.

“I felt like there was a huge population that was being looked over,” Lawrence said.

She added: “We’re all panicking right now and so a lot of people are just not being thought of. So, I felt like it was very important that, even at a time like this, people need to have that communication.”

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Lawrence brought the idea up to her mother and the two set to work crafting a surgical mask that allows others to view the wearer’s mouth. The two got crafty with items they had around the house, thus not requiring any trips outside for materials.

“We started out making them with bedsheets that we had, and luckily bed sheets are big,” Lawrence said. “So we have two or three sets so we’re making them out of that. Then, a couple months ago we needed plastic fabric for something. And so we have a whole roll of that and the window is only this big so having a whole roll is very helpful so luckily we haven’t needed any supplies yet.”

Lawrence and her mother are developing a few different kinds of masks as well, depending on the needs of the wearer.

“We’re trying different things too for people with cochlear implants and hearing aids if they can’t wrap around the ears,” Lawrence said. “We’re making some that have around the head and around the neck.”

Lawrence hopes that her masks can help people who rely on lip-reading to be able to communicate more easily with each other, with medical professionals, and even with state leaders.

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“For anyone who uses speech reading, lip reading, anybody like that,” Lawrence said about the purpose of the masks. “And people who are profoundly deaf who use ASL as their primary mode of communication. ASL is very big on facial expressions and it is part of the grammar. So I don’t know if you have seen Virginia Moore on Andy Beshear’s things at five o’clock, but she’s very emotive, and if half of that is gone because you’re wearing a mask then half of what you’re saying is being missed, so even if it’s not physically talking and just using ASL, then you need to have that kind of access.”

News of Lawrence’s innovation spread quickly and already individuals in six states have ordered dozens of masks from her. You can order one of Lawrence’s masks by emailing her at dhhmaskproject@gmail.com. Lawrence is sending them to individuals in need completely free of charge.

“I’m not charging anything for them because I think that if you need them, then you need them and I don’t think that you should have to pay for them,” Lawrence said. “So we are sending them out for free whenever we have people asking for them and if they’re foreign, then maybe we’ll charge shipping, but other than that they’re completely free.”

To help fund the production of masks, Lawrence is accepting donations on her GoFundMe page. [3] If you want to help keep these see-through masks going out to those in need, consider chipping in a few dollars!

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