so the other day we were having a lecture on cultural sensitivity in regards to nursing. she asked us to name some specific cultures we may encounter in the workplace. some people said "Hispanic", "African American", etc.. i said "Deaf!", and then my teacher looked at me like i was retarded and preceded to say no no, that is not a culture that is a disability. i read back to her the definition of culture in our book that was something along the lines of "the shared characteristics, beliefs and practices of a certain racial, religious or social group"
then i kind of got annoyed with her and gave her attitude and told her Deaf people do have their own unique culture and maybe she should google it later. haha..
later we were talking about things we can do to help accommodate peoples different cultures, like respecting dietary preferences, knowing whether or not someone prefers direct eye contact, etc.. someone brought up using a translator for spanish speaking patients and the teacher said "very good! that is very important, because we can not depend on family members to translate due to privacy reasons and the fact that they may not know certain medical terminology and might know how to convey it back to the patient, as well as we do not know if they are actually telling them what we want them to say..
she continued and said that we have things called "blue phones" that will connect us with a spanish translator for immediate problems, as well as on call translators...
so, i asked what they have for Deaf people. again, i got the confused look. she said "most Deaf people know how to read lips, so its not really a problem." i told her that was a rude assumption, and that not all Deaf people can or want to read lips, and its very tiring, so even if they can a sick person probably doesnt really have the energy to do it and would really prefer an interpreter.. then she said "well, they can always write" i rolled my eyes and decided i was just going to give up and then someone else raised their hand and said that they worked in the ER and when Deaf patients came in they usually had a friend or family member with them to help interpret.
i was like "isnt that the same thing as the spanish people with family members!?!?!" if you are going to respect their culture and privacy you should do so for every patient that comes through the door! just because there is a greater hispanic population in this area as compared to Deaf, doesnt mean you should give any one culture more of an advantage over the other!!!"
she ended this whole conversation by saying, "well its not much of a problem, we do not even get many Deaf patients. I've never had one."
I thought to myself, "hmm I wonder why. you dont exactly make it an easy process for them.":roll:
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i was pretty enraged by this whole thing, and im pretty sure i am now the weirdo girl who interrupts class to talk about Deaf people.. haha. oh well i think its ridiculous.. have any of you had horrible hospitalization experiences?
WOW now would I be in that 85%
Only sad thing is that they would be talking in oral with no ASL in the nursing classroom. 
