#deaf

A significant portion of Deaf people in the US (what I know) still struggle with literacy because of language deprivation. When you are born deaf, you completely miss crucial windows of spoken language development (and language development in general, if your parents don't sign, which is a vast number of Deaf people). Deaf schools will teach Deaf people how to read and write, but ASL is still taught and prioritized as a first language in Deaf schools and is the language many Deaf people are socialized in. Furthermore, it would sorely irresponsible for doctors and nurses to try to solely use written communication in place of an ASL interpreter because doctors and nurses are not always trained in how to respond to the language and communication needs of Deaf people. To add, replacing an interpreter with written English completely disregards cultural context, and denies Deaf people access on people who are trained in understanding Deaf people in emergency situations. It also denies access in our first language.

The ADA and hospital interpreters exist for very good and extremely important reasons that are paramount to access for Deaf people, and we have fought a long battle to have that. If we wanted to instead replace that with reading and writing, if we were content with that, then there would have been no battle, and no need for interpreters in hospitals (and in general). If it was sufficient enough, there would be no need. Yet, we still fought because we found a strong need for full access in many of our first languages.

People don't think of using their second language in distress. Deaf people are not always comfortable using written language because most signed languages possess no written component, and most of the time, written languages are a second language. It is a struggle to understand a spoken and written language when you have experienced a lack of that language in the earliest stages of your life, like many Deaf including myself have.

I will speak from personal experience now. When I take science classes, I take longer to understand my assignments or what I am studying because English is not my first language, and in the first two years of my life, I completely missed out on any kind of development in the English language, whereas hearing children have it from the second they come into the world. I study medicine, I have a strong desire to study medicine, and I am very determined to understand medicine so I can become a kind and empathetic doctor that can also explain medical concepts in ways that Deaf people can understand; in our native language.

However, I find myself struggling to understand when even just a couple medically complex words come into play. Suddenly, the meaning of the sentence discombobulates and comes apart in my head and I find myself rereading, then trying to translate it into the concepts I think in, or into my language. I can write and express well when I am calm, when I can focus on my words and translating what is in my head to English words. However, I can't do this as easily in a hospital. If my back hurts so badly I can't think straight, which is a fair chance, I can't think straight enough to understand English in the way English first language speakers do.

When I was in the ER a few years ago, I couldn't understand the questions the doctors asked, despite knowing what the words were. I was in an altered state of mind due to being nervous, because being in the ER is a very nervewracking thing. I could not find the words in English to tell them that I was experiencing arrhythmia and visceral pain in my spine because I could not label the intensity of my distress in English. It didn't matter if I could write or read because I did not have the language skill in the moment to use it. Had they provided me with a qualified interpreter, I would have then been able to more easily express my distress because then I would be using my first language, a language that is inherent to me. This is why we have interpreters, because for those of us who grew up with signed languages, those languages are inherent to us, not spoken languages.

The hospital, especially the emergency room, is a very sensitive and volatile area. Reading and writing takes more time, is less effective, and requires the doctor or nurse to think more about how to communicate with the patient than how to properly treat them. An interpreter effectively removes many of these barriers by providing someone who is (hopefully) trained, qualified, and knowledgeable of linguistic and cultural barriers.

Your Deaf character does not have to lose their hearing in a horrificly traumatic way, like a car accident, explosion, etc.

Most Deaf people have lost their hearing due to genetic factors, infections, ear infections, medications, medication overdoses, head injuries, and birth complications. A lot of this happened early on in life.

Having your Deaf character be fluent in ASL for the sake of being fluent yet having no exposure to the Deaf community and no one to sign with or who taught them doesn't make sense.

Keep in mind that a Deaf person who lost their hearing later vs lost their hearing young will have differerent life experiences; Deaf experience varies greatly.

Finally, just because your Deaf character is Deaf, it doesn't mean their life is miserable, pointless, unfullfilling, depressing, and only traumatic.

Deaf people have a rich history, culture, language. Many Deaf people don't consider themselves disabled and often consider it a language barrier (though this varies from person to person).

When you write a Deaf character, please do research and not just make their life what you think the Deaf experience is. Don't make a Deaf character's life just miserable because you like writing traumatized characters.