it is well established that human communications are about 75% (pick your statistic) non-verbal. Some of that is intonation which is not carried well with a second accent. The rest is visual, and I have heard it said, particularly by deaf people, that beards get in the way of understanding.

I always quote the story of an engineer working for me. He (a Sikh) went to India to find a wife. When he started complaining that his wife had back trouble and the doctor was not very good I said he could change doctors easily under the National Health. He replied it was not that easy because they chose one that spoke Irdu, at which point I told him emphatically I had no sympathy if he would not let/insist his wife spoke reasonable English.

There are are always gains and losses in such obvious statements like the veil. It affirms someones religious fervour and shows that a multicultural society is tolerant. It also is a firm statement of segregation and has to be accepted as such. If we should not be so insensitive as to denegrate the veil we should not be told to draw a veil over the obvious downsides.