Listen to this

At the start of the pandemic, I moved back home to Omaha, Nebraska, and returned to the job I had in high school at Smoothie King. As I was working in the back room peeling bananas one day, my coworker peeked her head around the corner to tell me to come and take an order. I readjusted my mask and quickly threw my slimy gloves in the trash before realizing it was my brother waiting to order.

“Hi,” I said. “Do you know what you want?”

“What?” Danny responded, scrunching his eyebrows and throwing his hands out in front of him, a little bit frustrated.

I pulled down my mask to uncover my lips, and asked again.

Danny is deaf.

My brother has lived his life in a hearing world. Until a couple of years ago, Danny, 25, had gotten used to navigating everyday interactions primarily through reading lips. COVID-19 changed everything.

It’s been two difficult years for everyone and certainly more difficult for some than others. But, we’ve all had to deal with the immense challenges COVID-19 brought, and they have made us all a little insular. We’ve complained, whether it’s about classes on Zoom, lame 21st birthday celebrations or having to reschedule trips. Communicating while wearing a mask or six feet apart or on Zoom was inconvenient for everyone.

For Danny, it was more than just inconvenient; it was limiting and exclusive.

These COVID-19 years, for all their inconveniences, have taught me more about being aware of peoples’ differences. I’m nearing graduation, and I’ve learned plenty in the classroom — from understanding standard deviation to editing a podcast. But I’ve also learned about the real world.

The pandemic exposed discrepancies in our world — our flawed healthcare system, where access to medical resources correlates with wealth. And our flawed interpretation of the Constitution, where women’s rights are threatened. The list goes on.

Those are big societal issues that need reckoning, but inequities can exist closer to home. I’ve always known Danny as just my big brother. Talking to him never seemed like anything more than maybe having to repeat myself one or two times. When mask-wearing and social distancing became norms, I realized just how complicated it is being deaf in a hearing world. The COVID-19 regulations constantly reminded Danny that most people can understand words through a mask or order dinner through a drive-thru. Most people don’t need to ask the girl at Smoothie King to take her mask off before they can understand what she’s saying.

Danny’s restrictions to COVID-19 regulations reminded me that we can become ignorant to other people’s differences. It takes active awareness to be inclusive and it is easy to adapt to other’s needs.

The lessons I’ve learned from understanding how Danny navigates life in a pandemic go further than just witnessing what it’s like to be deaf. It’s taught me that the world needs to be all in this together, and it’s up to us to look out for one another. That’s how we move forward.