World Deaf Orienteering Championships

[Adventure Racer]

How significant is the disadvantage of not being able to hear at all in relation to orienteering?

[Stodgetta]

I guess it means you can't hear when someone says "can you tell me where we are please?", but then nor can you hear when there's people shouting "it's over here!" .

[CHS]

With the SI boxes you may not be able to hear the beep, either when you punch or when someone nearby punches. Can't hear water to help locate streams, can't hear the general roar of the finish at larger events, can't hear instructions in the start box or the pips as you start. Having unilateral hearing (only in one ear) means you can't place sounds even if you can hear them ie 'there is a stream somewhere here but is it in front or behind me?'

Many severely or profoundly deaf people don't have English as their first language and many cannot lipread so I could imagine that they would need signing support.

None of these potential difficulties is that significant but having a Deaf O champs highlights a way in which the sport caters for disabilities.

[IanD]

What are the criteria for inclusion? I know of Ian Ditchfield but don't know him but I do know of two orienteers of very different ages who are totally dependent on hearing aids. How are the competitors selected or is it a case of turn up if you qualify?

There is a standard across all sports for what qualifies you to compete in "deaf" competitions. It is that you must have a hearing loss of at least 55 decibels in your better ear. This is very roughly 50%.

This means that it covers a range from the totally deaf up to people like me (Ian Ditchfield) who can pass as "normal" in most circumstances when using hearing aids. Hearing aids may not however be worn during deaf competition, leading to the interesting inversion that conditions are normal for the totally deaf, but unfamiliar for the partially hearing.

Theoretically, the World Deaf Champs was for selected national teams. Some national teams really were selected, the Ukraine for example turned up with a large squad funded by their federation, including two coaches, and went home with most of the gold medals. The British squad was self-selected on the basis that only three eligible people were prepared to pay their own flights, accommodation, etc. (Thanks though to BOF and UK Deaf Sport for the kit.)

CHS has neatly summarised the disadvantages suffered by the deaf in orientering competition. Fairly marginal. Orienteering is much more about fitness, vision, and the application of intelligence under pressure than it is about hearing.

There is however one quite unnecessary disadvantage for the deaf which is creeping in to our sport. SI units both flash and bleep, but increasingly labels or tape are being stuck over the flashing lights. At the last Regional event I did, a large label showing the control code was stuck on each SI unit, usually obscuring the flashing light.

I got fed up with bending down to put an ear by the control as I punched - it interfers considerably with flowing through the control! So I gave up listening for bleeps and just hoped all the units were working, which fortunately turned out to be the case. At least I have enough hearing to have the option, some don't. Please could all planners and control hangers avoid obscuring SI lights!