Deaf/HoH Healthcare Providers

[Dixie]

As you all know I am partially deaf and an EMT-Basic in the lovely state of AR. Part of me wants to flag it and raise deaf/hoh awareness and put it out there that the dead/hoh folks are not necessarily dumb and can be a truly productive part of the American workforce in many capacities. But other part knows not to flag it because it will only make it that much more difficult to find work as an EMT because sadly when people hear the term 'deaf' they automotically process the words 'dumb' and 'disabled' when none of that is harldy true.

I think being partially deaf helps me as an EMT. I am more 'touchy' when it comes to a patient asessment whereas my classmates where afraid to touch the patients. I can hear BPs and auscultate fine with a stethoscope, I merely make minor adjustments to reduce vibration and background noise, while remaining aware of my surroundings. (Scene Safety is a BIG issue in EMS) I listen to my gut, if I dont feel good about a situation, I simply dont go there.

I am also thinking about getting scholarships and grants to return to school either for my LPN or my AAS in Paramedicine. Are there scholarships or grants available out there for deaf/hoh people to wish to enter the healthcare profession. I have also dabbled with the idea of becoming an Emergency Room Doctor that specialises in pediatric truamas, even flight medicine with Angel One. I want to be able to give back to the community, but at the same time raise deaf/hoh awareness, not just for me, but for others out there who are sick of being gaurded from their dreams. I understand that due to our limitations we cant do just anything, but there is so much more we are capable of that the hearing world thinks we cannot do. We aint dumb, and we dang sure aint disabled!

Its a fact that many emplyers do not hire deaf/hoh people because it might be a liability for them with the ADA. But we shouldnt be limited to chicken plants and McDonalds.

Do you have any suggestions on how to go about this? I have to be able to provide for me and my daughter, I cant live here with my parents forever and I wish to be an independent productive member of society.

Thanks,
Dixie

 

[Gemtun]

Dixie,

You have raised many good insights in that posting! Im with you all the way in making raves in health care field.

Have you thought of becoming a RN? My work is looking for a deaf or hearing RN with ASL skills to work at our facility. It sure sucks trying to find someone with a firm understanding of ASL and cultural norms who could work with our 64 deaf/hardofhearing/deaf&blind residents.

Many of our residents struggle with their health care professionals because they dont understand Deaf culture and take more time to explain. So often many of them come to me after their appointments to ask me to clarify what their doctor or nurse meant during their appointments, etc.

I work with many different EMTs because they come to our facility often. Fortunately we have staff here to educate the EMTs if they couldnt understand what is going on with the deaf resident or whatnot. But I cant imagine what it would be like out there with no one around to help educate an EMT if he/she comes help a stricken deaf patient.

I went to visit a nursing home yesterday - there is a deaf resident there - it broke my heart to see her all isolated there. Nurses simply wrote on a little piece of paper to communicate with her. Her TV doesnt even have a CC feature!

I am sure that there are funding out there who could help you out. Perhaps you can contact many national health care foundations and find what your options could be.

Best of luck with your endeavors!

 

[Riptide]

There are other medical fields that deafies are in to. Like medical records.

One size does not fit all. Most deafies would not be suitable as an EMT, nor would they feel comfortable. It depends on your own, special circumstances. A late-deafened HOH person would be able to adjust nicely.

There are many jobs that the deaf could be trained to do. Pet grooming is one, and picture framing is another. But for some reason no one is interested in even trying.

 

[ismi]

sadly when people hear the term 'deaf' they automotically process the words 'dumb' and 'disabled' when none of that is harldy true.

[snip]

We aint dumb, and we dang sure aint disabled!

I'm HOH and disabled, and I find this kind of attitude extremely offensive. The implication in your statement is that disability means helplessness, or an inability to function independently as a productive member of society. I identify more strongly as dis than deaf, and I am proud of my disability, and, yes, the *disability* *culture* that goes along with that, just as you are proud of your deafness and the culture that goes along with that.

In fact, (and this is going to be the controversial part of my post) it wouldn't be hard to argue that deaf *are* disabled. There's a stigma attached to disability, but it is unwarranted. You face many of the same issues we do - accessibility, acceptance/tolerance, discrimination, difficulty of interacting with non-deaf/dis world, etc. The social versus medical model debate in the disabled community is a good example of what I'm talking about. And as long as deaf use SSDI, the ADA, Sect. 508 of the Rehab Act, yet take every opportunity to cry, "I'm not disabled! Really! Don't you dare say I'm disabled!", well ... you're not only being blatantly hypocritical, you're hurting the cause of disabled rights. <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/ouch/features/bitch/bitchnotdisabled.shtml">You can't choose to be disabled one moment, non-disabled the next, simply because it's convenient</a>.

This post is really too long, but I see the kind of attitude in the OP all over the place here and in the Deaf community in general, and it really pisses me off.

 

[Dixie]

ismi,
Im not out to draw disability, my parents have told me "Go draw disability", I could but I choose not to. Why? Because if I do, I feel I limit myself and what I can and cannot do. Disability is hard enough to get as it is, but once your on it, your on a fixed income. You can work a little bit to supplement it, but thats it, you can only supplement it and live with bare minimums. If you make above a certain amount then they yank you off disability and when you do try to get back on it, it is that much more difficult.

Again, I am deaf in my left ear completely with reduced hearing in my right ear. I can still hear and function in the hearing world as I can read lips and can hear. Ive had to function as partially deaf in a hearing world all of my life. I just dont see any reason why I shouldnt try to pursue my dreams in my situation.

And as for claiming disabled one minute and non-disabled another is totally wrong. When people find out I am deaf in one ear, they automatically assume I am totally deaf and treat me as such by talking loudly and slowly as if I were also retarded.

Having had to deal with the struggles of a hearing impairment/deafness, I can identify with the things you do, such as people who dont look at you when speaking, then when you dont hear them clearly they get upset. Its not our fault we are the way we are, its the fact that alot of the people we've encountered have a 'zero-tolerance' attitude.

Im not saying its wrong for you to draw a disability check, but I am saying if you have the ability to work then you should work. Maybe your profoundly deaf and cant find suitable employment to have a living wage- but again I dont know your situation so I cant nor will I judge.

Riptide,
Yes not every deaf/hoh person should be in the medical field BUT once youve done patient care its hard to do anything else. Ive done the EMT thing, and I did well. I got high marks during clinical observations as well as during my internship on the ambulance. I took and passed the National Registry test with flying colors, I passed my clinical testing with a VERY hard proctor who was drilling me with questions left and right to make sure I knew my stuff and that I can think during a stressful moment.

Not to knock down other professions that deafies are good at, but I just want to do more than frame pictures or groom pets. Thing is no one has honestly tried the Deaf Medic. By that I dont mean the guy in Silent Alarms who rode 3rd ride and was under the supervision of a Medic and another EMT on-board, Im talking IM the deaf/hoh Medic running the scene. It takes alot to become a respected Medic in the pre-hospital community, even harder to be respected as Medic among RNs (nothing against RNs), and then add that on to getting the respect as a functioning deaf/hoh medic in a hearing EMS world is going to take ALOT. It can be done, and Im going to try. Im not wanting "Oohs" and "Aahs" - I just want people to say "Oh BTW she's deaf so please when you are talking to her look at her so she can understand you and listen to what she's got to say."

Growing up, Ive been made to feel ashamed, and recently Ive realized I dont have to feel ashamed. My parents prevented me from alot of things growing up because "you cant hear." I proved them wrong when I went and played varsity basketball for one year - I quit basketball not because I couldnt hear, but because I continually butted heads with my coach. He didnt know I was "deaf" until after I told him. I then went on to run and excel at varsity track and field.

My dad didnt let me drive because he said "you cant hear traffic behind you." Since when did anyone have to hear traffic behind them, thats what rear-view mirrors are for. I finally got my license at 18, and I havent had any traffic violations since.

I went on to college and did well, but ended up dropping out after my freshman year due to an unplanned pregnancy. While working 50+ hours a week in the chicken plant to make money, I decided thats not the life I wanted, so I decided to take on my interest in the medical field and signed up for an EMT class. I was working full time, single divorced mom and going to school at night, it was a chug but I feel it was worth it. My parents thought I would flunk the course, I passed the whole thing while half the original class dropped. Im one of the 12 out of the 13 final students who passed the National Registry. I never told my instructor I was 'deaf'. I made my own adjustments as needed.

I wish to further my EMS education and get an Associates of Applied Science Degree in Paremedicine. Im and determined to succeed. Thats why I ask "Is there grants/scholarships available out there for deaf/hoh people who wish to pursue a career in the medical field. If there isnt, Id sure like to start a fund to award scholarships for those who do fall into the catagory.

There are now electronic stethoscopes available for hoh healthcare providers. The sound can be amplified to provide clearer listening. I also feel that with a successful cochlear implant *some* deaf people could also do well in the healthcare field dealing with patient care.

This is something that needs to be pushed for in the medical field. They make contacts strong enough for people who are legally blind, and they work in healthcare, why shouldnt there be something for the deaf. Because deaf people also need healthcare - I think a deaf/ASL knowledge person could really add to the patient care aspect of medicine. Even in Pharmacuetical care, if something is unclear about directions of medications an ASL- knowledge person could be of great help to explain the medication to the deaf patient. Do you see where Im getting at?

Thanks you have both raised some good questions that need to be asked. I would rather have to answer hard questions than to answer no questions at all only to fail.

Dixie

 

[ismi]

ismi,
Im not out to draw disability, my parents have told me "Go draw disability",

I don't get SSDI, nor did I think you wanted SSDI. I completely agree - if you're able to work, you should. Like you, I am HOH. But I also identify as disabled, and have run into many who don't think I can live independently, work, be educated, etc; yet here I am, studying at a selective university, and I fully intend to have a career when I graduate (life would be so boring otherwise, no?).

My point was that your statement about hearing assuming "dumb" and "disabled" when they hear "deaf" is offensive because it implies that disability is something to be ashamed of, or something that prevents one from being a full and productive member of society. Again, the deaf and the disabled face many of the same problems in society, and so even if we don't identify as members of the same group, it makes sense that our movements should be allies (much like feminism and LGBT activists). Instead, deaf often snipe at the disabled, in an attempt to distance themselves from the stigma associated with disability. Conversely, it has been my experience that those deaf who wish to participate in the disabled community are welcomed as brothers and sisters. My comments about SSDI/ADA/508 were not targeted at you specifically, but at those in the deaf community that slams disability while claiming to be disabled when it is beneficial (note: deaf have every right to use ADA and 508 and so on; my problem is that deaf often do so, then turn and badmouth the disabled).

In summary, the specific problem I had with your post was the way you suggested that being disabled is something to be ashamed of - or that it is acceptable to assume that there isn't a problem with discrimination against the disabled.

 

[Kal-El]

wow, awesome work dixie, ur story is very inspirational, and i wish the best for u in the future. unfortunately i cant help since i dont live in america, im in Australia at the moment...

im also trying to raise awareness in the mental health proffession. iv realized that when deafies have personal/family/relationship problems, they dont have many proffessionals to talk to, so now i am talking to different people and conducting studies to introduce new subjects to the psychology courses at universities to raise deaf awareness among aspiring psychologists and therapists. At least if they dont go on to study Sign Language to better help their patients, then at least they will have an understanding of deaf culture and how to better help the deaf comunity...

 

[Interpretrator]

Dixie, I don't have any answers for you, but I know that there have been several deaf students who have gone through UCLA Medical School. They might have some resources where you could find answers to your questions. It's a long shot, but you could try contacting someone there to ask. (Maybe in Special Services or whatever they call their office for students with disabilities.) Good luck!

 

[Dixie]

Thanks for the suggestions, I may need to pull up the UCLA Med School site and see if they have someone I can contact for accurate information. It would be nice to go from EMT-Basic to ER Doc in about 10 years, plus I think we are starting to have a higher percentage of the American population becoming deaf or hoh, being able to identify with them and really be able to communicate with them would really do alot for the healthcare field. One of the traits of a good healthcare provider is being sympathetic towards a person and their situation - learning ASL and being able to communicate with them more clearly about their diagnosis and meds would be a BIG asset. Deaf/hoh patients will be less hesistant to seek medical care because now they dont feel like they are being ignored (which is a big no-no in my book)

Once again thanks alot ya'll for your replies and your help, hopefully I can get this off the ground and going in the right direction.

Dixie