Show empathy for patients with disabilities

I’m deaf, and I’m a social worker. For 23 years I’ve been a member of parliament, where I’ve been in the position to advocate for access for deaf people, including people with disabilities.

I chaired the committee that moved to have the UN convention on the rights of people with disabilities ratified. Year after year we have the Deaf Awareness Month, and we have Disability Rights Awareness Month as well as 365 Days Against Violence and Abuse.

With all that we think that those in the medical professions would be more empathetic and understanding of deaf patients.

Time and again I’ve come to see that many in the medical professions just do not know how to communicate with patients who are deaf. They do not have empathy for patients who are deaf. I wonder if they are trained to be more understanding of people who are deaf or of those with different disabilities.

Today is the 3rd of December, the day we usually celebrate Disability Rights Awareness Day. A deaf family member has been in hospital, where he encountered medical staff in desperate need for training in deaf awareness and deaf culture.

This family member it profoundly deaf; when he is connected to machines, he cannot hear the noise made when he moves. One night a nurse wanted to wake him up, and she decided to hit him awake. Hit him on the swollen side that was painful. Is it how a nurse is trained to wake patients, deaf or not deaf?

When visiting the deaf patient, one of the nurses talks from the door, talking above and around the deaf patient. This nurse does not talk in front, facing the deaf patient.

One nurse being fully aware the patient is deaf, he communicates with gestures to make sure the nurse understands, and then the nurse goes and whispers in his ear. One just cannot whisper in a profoundly deaf person’s ear. What training has been given regarding Deaf culture, Deaf awareness, on how to communicate?

Another nurse was told she’s communicating with deaf people. One can lip-read, and the patient cannot. After being done with all the paperwork, this nurse switched off the lights. I went to the switch, and I switched on the lights.

She exclaimed, "Oh, you need the lights." I repeated, "We are deaf; we use signs. How should we see signs in the dark?" Sometimes they know what "deaf" means, but they just cannot conceptualise exactly what being deaf means. This deaf patient has many times spoken to the manager and emailed the manager that he would like to offer deaf awareness and deaf culture training to the medical staff.

They are still waiting for some management to agree to this, but in the meantime deaf patients are coming to the hospital and nothing is being done to bring on awareness. I’m writing this with the hope that those in the medical sector take up on the offer, and I’m giving a few tips on how to communicate with deaf patients.

- Not all deaf people can lipread, so don’t depend on the patient to lipread unless the patient says lipreading is okay.

- There is a difference between being hard of hearing and being profoundly deaf. There is a spectrum of deafness ranging from profoundly deaf to hard of hearing to hearing. Some people can hear with a hearing aid, some do not.

Some do not have hearing aids at all. For some the hearing aid assists with something else, not hearing.

- Look at the patient and talk directly to the patient

- Do not stand in front of the window when talking to a deaf patient

- Have a writing pad ready so the patient can write, to communicate

- There are now apps on the phone or iPad that change voice to text; make use of that.

- Please do NOT hit (or whack) a deaf person awake in the middle of the night or early hours of the morning. It's ok to switch on the light or to pat on the arm. Do not hit the person awake and tell the person I’ve been calling you and calling you.

Do you not then assume the person might be deaf or just in deep sleep? Is it part of your training to hit a person awake?

- Do not expect a deaf person to read your nametag in the dark. Its ok to put on the lights.

- Learn basic sign language, enough to communicate in hospital.

To end off, I would like to tell a story that really happened, and in this way encourage nurses and all medical professionals to keep up with technology.

A deaf patient was lying on the bed getting ready to talk to the nurse. He switched on his iPad to get the South African sign language interpreter ready to interpret (via video call).

Usually when the nurse comes, the deaf person would introduce that he is deaf and he will be using sign language, and he has the interpreter ready to interpret from his iPad.

He thought all that was clear and the nurse started shouting, "Who is the patient? Who is the patient?"

The other patients on the neighbouring beds and on the bed opposite the deaf patient all together shouted at the nurse that the patient is right there on the bed.

As you can see, the struggle continues

Wilma Newhoudt-Druchen, social worker and former member of parliament