2021 Volume 5 Article ID: 2020-030
Communication between those with hearing disabilities for whom sign language is their first language (hereafter referred to as Deaf) and medical professionals is all but nonexistent. While medical professionals may think their words are being understood, in fact there are many cases in which this is not true. Because of this, low adherence to treatment regimen is common among Deaf patients. Many Deaf people have doubts and concerns about medical professionals. What’s more, in many cases, medical professionals ignore the patient and speak only to family members or interpreters. Rather than seeing those with disabilities as somehow flawed and assuming that communication with them is too difficult, we must recognize that their disability is a social barrier, and act on the assumption that it is possible to directly communicate with anyone. Keeping in mind the social model of disability put forth by the United Nations and the concept of reasonable accomodation, in our training of pharmacists who share this way of thinking, we are challenged to listen to the voices of persons with disabilities, and furthermore to create truly barrier free universities where Deaf students can study alongside hearing students.
