Deaf people

[Emery]

Hi all,

I was just wondering about how often you run into deaf people. I am currently enrolled in Sign Language II. I began learning it just for fun, but was wondering how many of you know it and use it and how often you use it. Whenever people hear that I'm learning it they always say how useful it will be for me in nursing. I was just curious.

Thanks a lot!!

~Emery

[ktwlpn, LPN]

Hi all,

I was just wondering about how often you run into deaf people. I am currently enrolled in Sign Language II. I began learning it just for fun, but was wondering how many of you know it and use it and how often you use it. Whenever people hear that I'm learning it they always say how useful it will be for me in nursing. I was just curious.

Thanks a lot!!

~Emery

I actually have never met any deaf patients that used sign language but 2 of my nieces have learned it.They're 17 and 8.They signed a beautiful song at a family wedding a few months ago- it brought many of us to tears......

[grannynurse FNP student]

Hi all,

I was just wondering about how often you run into deaf people. I am currently enrolled in Sign Language II. I began learning it just for fun, but was wondering how many of you know it and use it and how often you use it. Whenever people hear that I'm learning it they always say how useful it will be for me in nursing. I was just curious.

Thanks a lot!!

~Emery

I have taken care of several deaf patients and have had to interact with several deaf members of families. I also would receive calls to go to other units.

Grannynurse:balloons:

[sirI, MSN, APRN, NP]

Hi all,

I was just wondering about how often you run into deaf people. I am currently enrolled in Sign Language II. I began learning it just for fun, but was wondering how many of you know it and use it and how often you use it. Whenever people hear that I'm learning it they always say how useful it will be for me in nursing. I was just curious.

Thanks a lot!!

~Emery

Hello, Emery,:balloons:

I learned to sign many years ago. This has really helped me with my hearing-impaired patients. There is a college for the hearing-impaired near me.

[llg, PhD, RN]

Please don't forget that many people with hearing impaiments do NOT use sign language. Many deaf people lost their hearing as adults and prefer other means of communication. While some late-deafened adults sign, ASL is most commonly prefered by people who were raised as Deaf.

The prevalence of ASL use also varies with the proximity to Deaf schools. If you live in a community with a Deaf school, then many people within your community will probably use ASL. However, if you do not live near such a center of Deaf culture, the proportion of people within the population who use ASL will probably be small.

llg

[chicoborja]

ASL is also more prevalent in areas that have large Deaf communities (e.g., Washington, D.C., New York, and California). Many school systems teach SEE (SEE2) which is a manual version of English. Although ASL and SEE may share many signs, the syntax for ASL is markedly different from that of SEE/English.

Additionally, you may have helped a Deaf/deaf person and not have realized it. Some hearing impaired persons that were raised in residential/private schools may have adequate or even near-normal speech and bypass the use of manual communication with the hearing population to avoid social/pragmatic difficulties.

[HappyNurse2005, RN]

Well, i've had one deaf pt. But she was deaf and blind,so i doubt ASL would have worked!

She was 81 and got around quite well (oh, this was in nursing school, btw, so i didn't deal w/ all teh complexities of her care). I beleive she was born that way? Or it happened early, b/c she was very very comfortable with it. She didn't talk, but to go to the bathroom, she rang the call bell, you touched her with your hand, she grabbed your hand and spelled out BATH into your hand, then hopped out of bed and took off for the bathroom.

SHe rolled over whichever way you needed her to, ate her food just fine, and generally was very pleasant.

that was my only deaf pt, though