Medical and Healthcare Deaf Awareness

How I use a deaf alert leaflet

I have typeset my HOWTO on a piece of A4 paper that I can just send to the printer before appointments and take copies with me. I can amend my main version for specific appointments e.g. for MRI scans where I can't have my hearing aid in, I would stress that advance instructions need to be given alongside gesture communication

The content below is just set out item by item, you could copy my text, change it for your own needs and make your own leaflet for deafness or any other access needs. Not just for healthcare, but other situations such as working in a new team at work, or sharing informaton with a social group.

Barakta: COMMUNICATION

NHS Number: ##########

I am severely deaf in both ears and wear a hearing aid. I hear nothing without my hearing aid. My speech is not indicative of how well I hear.

Hearing and making sense of conversation with people I do not know is very difficult and tiring. I will have a familiar person with me to assist me with communication.

My hearing aid does not give me 'normal' hearing - it amplifies everything. Background noise (especially conversation) makes understanding speech more difficult.

I rely heavily on lip-reading, facial expression and body language to make sense of the sounds I hear.

I need to be able to see the speaker at more than half a metre away to lip-read effectively. It takes time to switch focus from one speaker to another — it is helpful if new speakers can get my attention before speaking. I can only follow one speaker at a time.

If I mishear something I am likely to give an incorrect or nonsense answer. I often do not realise I have misheard or misunderstood. If you think I have done this, please tell me.

I need extra time to process speech and make sense of what I have heard or decide if I need to ask for something to be repeated. This is in addition to the time needed to perform an action or answer a question. I may need a longer appointment.

My auditory memory is poor, it is helpful to have information about the appointment findings and outcomes in writing afterwards.

Benefits for me using this leaflet in healthcare so far

1. It helps me prepare before appointments for what I need to insist upon for access reasons and plan how I might make requests clearly, assertively and firmly.
2. The HOWTO which was paperclipped to the front of my file enabled a receptionist to get my attention visually and not verbally. It also stopped her from being grumpy with me when she and her colleague stopped looking at me and started started talking to someone else; which made me think my registration was complete when it wasn't. Normally reception type get really angry at my difficulty knowing when hearing-people conventions for conversations are over. I either linger too long, or walk off too soon.
3. It reduced the rudeness from a medical staff member when I discovered my consultation was happening in a room with other patients+staff in it meaning I had to insist very firmly on being seen in a private consultation space.
4. It reminded staff why my partner was present as communication support in the appointment and was providing me with prompts and checking my understanding.
5. It reminded staff members to speak clearly, audibly and repeat things when I asked for it as well as encouraging them to look for signs that I was tiring e.g making less sense, or not following instructions properly so they could give me short (1 min or so) breaks and be extra patient.
6. One doctor I saw said it was very helpful as it allowed him to add in extra checks that I had understood what he was saying as my medical query and discussion was getting complex.
7. Other doctors have thanked me for this leaflet as it helped them understand how to support me and how to notice if I was getting confused.
8. I was thanked for sending this in advance alongside my request for a private consulting room because it enabled clinical staff to understand how they could make things more accessible and recognise when I was struggling and what to do. It reduced their anxiety of dealing with an unknown deaf patient.
9. It reminds me that even with all of that, hospital appointments are tiring and stressful and that it's OK to take some time to recover afterwards.

Remaining pitfalls

Sadly, some people are unwilling to read a single page of A4 and I do have a few experiences where clinicians refused to read the leaflet.

• A clinic appointment involved a very rude physio who refused to read this leaflet or my summary medical history document which had both been sent in advance via PALS. I suspect this physio may have had a disability such as dyslexia affecting his ability to read (I spotted other signs). But even if he did have a reading-disability, he had a clinical duty to work round that and not take it out on me with rudeness. He could have asked me to explain it or had a reading solution in place from his employer. After this PALS came down to my next clinic appointment (different department) to specifically make sure the consultant surgeon read it (which he was actually already doing and thanked me for it).
• At a planned hospital admission in 2021, where clear masks were used very well. Staff repeatedly refused to read my deaf alert leaflet, take a copy to staff handover or apply any other deaf awareness a lot of the time. There was an attitude "clear masks fix all" and an unwillingness to listen. I was in a lot of pain and unwell after my surgery which meant we didn't think to phone PALS and ask them to come down and intervene directly which might have worked (but equally might have got more resentment from staff). We couldn't pre-plan it as we didn't know which ward I would be on until after my surgery started. The last minute allocation of wards for patients is a major access issue as it prevents advance planning.

page last modified Sunday, 19-Jan-2025 18:19:02 GMT