{"id":15299,"date":"2023-10-14T14:19:34","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T18:19:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/newsletter\/?p=15299"},"modified":"2024-06-17T15:00:38","modified_gmt":"2024-06-17T19:00:38","slug":"treating-patients-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.skipatrol.ca\/newsletter\/2023\/10\/treating-patients-who-are-deaf-or-hard-of-hearing\/","title":{"rendered":"Treating patients who are deaf or hard of hearing"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Devin Hanes, Central Zone ski patroller (<\/span><\/i><\/b>devin.somers@gmail.com<\/span><\/i><\/b><\/a>)<\/span><\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In our role as members of the Canadian Ski Patrol, we may need to treat a patient who is deaf or hard of hearing. In my day job, I am a DHH (deaf and hard of hearing) teacher, within the deaf community. I am hearing. I wear hearing aids, my main language of communication is English, and I identify as hearing. As such, I do not speak for the deaf community, I am attempting to assist my fellow patrollers to respectfully and efficiently treat skiers\/snowboarde<\/span>rs who are deaf or hard of hearing, based upon my experience as a hearing person that works within the deaf community.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

C<\/span>larification on terms<\/span><\/span><\/h2>\n
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Elena Yakovishina, deaf Russian skier, Alpine skiing Lady’s Super G – 28th Winter Universiade 2017, Almaty, Kazakhstan<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A deaf person most likely communicates in ASL (American Sign Language), and most likely is profoundly deaf, meaning that they are unable to clearly hear spoken language. Deaf people may or may not wear assistive hearing devices \u2013 such as cochlear implants or hearing aids. If they are wearing a hearing device, and depending upon when they became deaf (birth, childhood, adult), they may be able to understand some spoken language, but most likely in a quiet, isolated environment (not a ski hill\/chalet); and this is not the norm.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span>Within the DHH umbrella are also people who have cochlear implants or hearing aids.\u00a0 People with cochlear implants can only hear if the exterior portion of the implant is attached \u2013 should it become dislodge or fall off in an accident \u2013 they will not be able to hear. Usually, their language of communication is a spoken language, not ASL.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

People with hearing aids can have a range of hearing loss from moderate to severe. Their language of communication is most likely a spoken language, not ASL. Again, should the hearing aid become dislodged, damaged, etc., in an incident, their ability to hear and understand spoken language will be lower.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Not all deaf people who communicate though ASL read and write English. Most do, but ASL is its own language, within its own language rules. Depending on where the person learned ASL, they may not have learned English. While most deaf people do read and write English, trying to write back and forth is often not the quickest or efficient way to communicate in our situation.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Things to keep in mind<\/b><\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/h2>\n