Questionable offer: “Hard of hearing ID cards” against the obligation to wear a mask?

The Infection Protection Act provides for the possibility of introducing mask requirements in the fall. ID cards that can be ordered on the Internet should make it possible to circumvent them – but according to the Ministry of Health they are useless.

“Free yourself from the obligation to wear a mask”, promises an internet portal. The alleged trick: According to the Infection Protection Act, deaf and hard of hearing people and people who communicate with them, as well as their companions, are exempt from the nationwide mask requirements.

The customers of the web portal only need to be certified as hearing impaired, which according to the provider “actually exists in almost every young person and adult”. Then, for a fee, they receive an official-looking “hard of hearing ID” with a logo that is based on that of the federal ministries and is intended to prove to inspectors that they are exempt from the obligation to wear a mask. According to the website, a person is already hard of hearing with a reduction in hearing performance of just one percent.

Ministry disagrees

According to the Federal Ministry of Health, however, this is not the case: “The exception serves to ensure the proportionality of regulations that restrict fundamental rights, since the restricted persons cannot be expected to wear a mask,” a spokesman told the ARD fact finder With. “This does not include people who only have a minor hearing impairment, as they can be expected to wear a mask.” An ID card issued by a private company is therefore not legally relevant for the exemption from the mask requirement, according to the spokesman.

Markus Bönig, managing director of the foundation, who owns the company behind the offer, disagrees: “The opinions of the executives or ministries on the interpretation or application of the law are interesting, but not necessarily decisive,” he says ARD fact finder With. “A degree of hearing loss is not specified in the legal text. A doctor’s certificate is also not required. It is up to everyone to check and determine this circumstance for themselves.” Bönig does not answer the question of whether the provider will possibly assume the possible consequences under civil and criminal law as well as costs that could result from the use of such an ID card.

Associations for the hard of hearing protest

There is criticism from the representatives of those actually affected by hearing loss: “The exemption from the obligation to wear masks for the relevant group of people is a great success for the associations for people with hearing impairments, since otherwise they were no longer able to communicate in public,” says Jens Handler von the German Society for the Hearing Impaired ARD fact finder.

However, this is now being endangered in the long term by such offers: “When the first discussions about fake mask exemptions, and later about fake vaccination cards, became public, a sharp increase in experiences of discrimination for groups of people actually affected quickly became apparent,” says Handler. The growing distrust caused by forgeries meant that many, even with a certificate, were no longer believed. “Many people were therefore denied access when shopping or were verbally or physically attacked in public.”

Further discrimination feared

The online offer has the potential to fuel distrust specifically for people with hearing impairments and to make it difficult or deny them a justified exemption from the mask requirement, says Handler. “We hope that the ID cards will have no effect in the event of possible controls and will therefore have little impact on the social perception of people with hearing impairments.”

Annalea Schröder from the German Cochlea Implant Society made a similar statement to that ARD fact finder. The offer torpedoes “our educational and awareness-raising work by selling dubious ‘IDs’ that aren’t worth the sheet of paper they’re written on.” If such ID cards were used more often, society could quickly get the impression that hearing impairment was simply being used as an “excuse” for not wearing a mask yourself, according to Schröder. “This is fatal for people who depend on the mask being removed when communicating with them.”

Not the first problematic offer

The maker of the website is no stranger: he already offered obscure corona test and vaccination certificates. A judgment by the Stade Regional Court has now banned him from advertising the alleged vaccination certificates. Since the verdict has been appealed, it is not yet final.

However, those who have received such a vaccination certificate face possible legal problems if they have presented it to their employer. In a first case, the Lübeck Labor Court ruled that such an approach justifies termination without notice.

A nurse there complained that she had lost her job. The court agreed with the employer: the plaintiff downloaded the alleged vaccination certificate from the Internet and knew that the entries contained therein were not actually based on a medical assessment, either personal or virtual. Thus, she misled her employer about her inability to vaccinate, the reasoning said. A request from ARD fact finders via the district court to the plaintiff’s lawyers remained unanswered.

In three further proceedings before other chambers, three plaintiffs would have won, in another the plaintiffs “compared adequately”, according to Bönig. In the disputed proceedings, an appeal was filed.

Company operates from abroad

Although Bönig emphasizes that his offers are legal, he has repeatedly changed the names of his companies and websites over the past few months. The “vaccination certificates” and the “hard of hearing cards” are now sold through a Dutch limited liability company.

The sole owner of the entrepreneur is a foundation whose director is Bönig. In an interview with the Internet broadcaster “AUF1”, he said that this was done in order to make it more difficult for him to prosecute, which he considered unjustified but possible.