Medical- Surgical Nursing –1 Cultural Diversity and Nursing

The Deaf Culture

People with hearing loss form the largest disability group in this country. In addition
to the 4000 to 5000 babies who are born deaf every year, countless numbers of
people suffer injury or illnesses that cause deafness. As healthcare providers we
view deafness as a disability and focus purely on the medical aspects of deafness.
However Deaf people tend to find this view restrictive and limiting, because it fails
to describe the sociological implications of deafness. Labels like "hearing impaired"
"deaf and dumb" or "deaf mute", is considered undesirable because it refers to a
presumed disability.
Deaf people prefer to view deafness not as a handicap but as a shared experience
underlying their sense of community. As a symbol of pride and identity within this
community the word Deaf is often capitalized when referring to this group. The Deaf
community is a cultural group, sharing common experience, concerns, and language.
Since the primary binding force for this cultural group is its shared language, deaf
people who do not use ASL (American Sign Language) are not considered part of the
Deaf community. Conversely, some hearing people do belong to the Deaf
community. The Deaf community now includes perhaps as many as half a million
people throughout the United States.

These case studies were compiled from our personal experiences and interviews with
members of the Deaf community.

Many (most, I fear) hearing impaired women do not realize that they are entitled
to an interpreter during visits to their doctors. Seeing a doctor is an intimidating
experience for many people, and if one must write out questions instead of signing, it
is even more intimidating.
I know of a class through the New York Medical College which is taught by a deaf
woman who is very much a patient advocate. The medical students are taught basic
sign language at beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. They learn medical
terms and also learn about deaf culture. (More medical schools and healthcare
schools should follow this example.)

I had an experience with a deaf woman who had a new baby. She had a translator
who signed to the patient what the nurses said and then told the nursing staff what the
patient said. As we spoke I kept talking to the interpreter and directed all of my
communications to her. Finally, the interpreter told me to face the patient and speak
directly to her. Not only can deaf people read lips, but we are basically leaving them
out of the conversation if we do not direct our conversations to them. It was a big
learning experience for me! Just thought this could be helpful for this site as an
example! ( "Joseph RN" )

In a rural emergency department, a deaf patient had been waiting in the

Emergency Department exam room behind closed doors for one and a half hours.
The patients chief complaint was abdominal pain and no medical evaluation had
been done. When asked why, the nurse simply replied ... "she is deaf and mute and
we are waiting for the interpreter, it's a week end it will be a while before they arrive,
we'll just have to wait. "
I communicated with the patient using ASL (American Sign Language) while the
doctor evaluated her. The patient asked the doctor "why do you treat deaf people as if
we were animals who can neither read nor write ? in spite of my university
education I continue to experience this attitude. "
The degree of insensitivity toward deafness and deaf people displayed by the nurse
and doctor is unfortunately very high and mainly due to ignorance rather than
malice. The hearing assume that, thinking cannot develop without language.
Language cannot develop without speech. Speech cannot develop without hearing.
Conclusion, those who cannot hear cannot think. These assumptions and opinions
have had a devastating impact on the lives of deaf people.