Deaf people in America are fighting to stay in medical programs.
Jessica Wells was booted out of a nursing program in Missouri, because Cox College claimed because she was Deaf she would be unable to perform her duties. The
New York Times reported on Michael Argenyi, who was told by Creighton University School of Medicine that he couldn't use an interpreter during his course because he "needed to focus on the patient." Many Deaf people are already medical professionals, however; here's
an article about Dr. Philip Zazove, who became a certified Deaf physician as early as 1981. There's a market for this, as many Deaf patients prefer signing or Deaf physicians; thus the
Deaf Strong Hospital Program was established to help improve hospital services for Deaf people.
So how do Deaf physicians operate in a hearing environment?
Academic Medicine performed a study on 86 Deaf/Hard of Hearing physicians and trainees to ask what support they received as physicians. From the results:
The response rate was 65% (56 respondents; 31 trainees and 25 practicing
physicians). Modified stethoscopes were the most frequently used
accommodation (n = 50; 89%); other accommodations included auditory
equipment, note-taking, computer-assisted real-time captioning, signed
interpretation, and oral interpretation.
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