[swoosh / music plays] TOMMY: Here's a question I've been hearing a lot:

"How does a blind person communicate with somebody's who deaf?"

Well, today I'd like demonstrate a couple of methods and we can show you how it works.

Now I'm joined by deaf YouTuber Rikki Poynter.

RIKKI: Yeah, I'm Rikki. I'm a YouTuber who is deaf. I make videos about

deaf awareness, closed captioning awareness,

and then some social justice issues

with the occasional Pokemon thrown in. TOMMY: And what's the cause

of your deafness? RIKKI: It's pretty much genetic. The person

who I was born from, she was deaf at the age of three and then

as my hearing loss gradually came about it just made

the most logical sense that it came from her.

TOMMY: Oh, just lucky I guess, right? RIKKI: Oh, so lucky.

RIKKI: No, no, no, really it's not a bad thing. It's not.

TOMMY: The methods we're going to show you today depend on the severity of

somebody's hearing or vision loss. So in my case for example,

I'm blind since birth so I can't see a thing. RIKKI: I've been deaf

since I was 12. My hearing loss

really goes by decibels but I don't know that so

if we went by percentages... this ear, the hearing

is almost extinct, but in my

left side it's more of half there

still. Somewhere around there.

[music plays]

TOMMY: One method is talk to directly to Rikki.

Because she's got some hearing in her left ear she might be able

to hear me, but can you also read lips too?

RIKKI: Not really. When it comes to the English language

only 30 to 40 percent of the language can be read

on the lips easily and that's only under the best conditions.

For me, I can get the most common phrases like,

"Hi, how are you?

"Hi, how are you?" Stuff like that. But really

I'm trying to focus on what actual sound

is being said rather than

trying to read their lips. For me, I kind of hope for the best

and then try to use both methods at the same time.

[music plays]

RIKKI: So another way of communicating is using an interpreter.

If you don't know what an interpreter is, it's somebody who knows sign language.

So our friend Andrea over here is

going to be interpreting what I say to Tommy and

she's also going to be interpreting what he says to me.

For example... ANDREA: Tommy, how do you edit your videos?

TOMMY: I don't edit them. Ben does.

RIKKI: Oh, cool. ANDREA: Cool.

[music continues]

TOMMY: Now if you don't have an interpreter another method you could use

is tactile signing. Now what that means is I can put my hand

on Rikki's hand and say something to her

and she can put her hand back on mine and respond to what I say.

So for the sake of this video I just learned a couple things. So let me try one

for you. Ready? Here we go.

So I said, "how are you?" And she goes, "fine."

Pretty cool, right? RIKKI: Right.

ANDREA: That was so cute.

[music plays] RIKKI: So probably the easiest way of communicating

is through technology using a smartphone or a computer.

Personally my favorite app is called Make It Big.

All you have to do is you can write messages,

press done, the text is really big.

And you could also speak into the app and it will show the words for you.

TOMMY: Now for me, there's a thing on the iPhone called VoiceOver

and that's basically a screen reader. So I can dictate and it will say

what I've dictated and it will read back what Rikki's written to me.

IPHONE: Dictate.

TOMMY: Is this video over yet, question mark.

IPHONE: Inserted "Is this video over yet?"

Done. Done.

IPHONE: I hope so. TOMMY: Me too. [chuckles]

TOMMY: Hey Rikki, thanks a lot for doing this video with us. It was awesome.

I appreciate you. RIKKI: Thank you for having me.

TOMMY: No, no problems. And if you want to go check out

Rikki, please subscribe to her channel.

It's fascinating stuff. And over on Rikki's channel,

we did a collab with her as well, so please check

that one out too. The link is right on the screen

or in the description. Also, I'd like to thank

our interpreter, Andrea, for helping us out.

You have a YouTube channel as well. What's on that?

ANDREA: Yeah, so on my channel I talk about Spina Bifida which is a birth defect

that I have and I talk about disability rights and

intersectional feminism. So you can probably find

that in the description if Tommy likes me well enough to put it there.

But it's there. So do your best. Have fun.

That's it. That's all I got.

[music plays]

RIKKI: And in case you're wondering because I do get this a lot

in the comments - "But she's understanding everything Tommy's

says." We have this outline here that

Ben has written up before I got over here and this

is a very important piece of material

I know what's going on even if I don't understand what he's saying

I can get an idea and then we just keep it going, keep it going.

TOMMY: I guess your saying print works too.

RIKKI: Yeah, pretty much.

BEN: [laughs] I love it. That's such a throw away.

[beep] TOMMY: I also want to thank Abby who's been with us all day

just making us laugh and keeping us smiling for the whole video. Thanks, Abby!

ABBY: You're welcome. TOMMY: A little louder. I don't think Rikki heard you.

ABBY: You're welcome! TOMMY: [laughs]