CEO’s Report

Star Grieser | RID CEO, MA, CDI, ICE-CCP

ASL Version: https://youtu.be/6_oVXwM4vaI

Recently, I experienced something as a Deaf person that was very personal and very harrowing. I woke up one Saturday morning with intense pain in my eyes. Thinking that it might be some kind of sinus headache I’ve never experienced before, I treated it - with minimal effectiveness - with over-the-counter medications until about a week later, on Friday, I woke up with partial vision loss in my left eye. I called an ophthalmologist who gave me the next available appointment on a Monday morning. Upon some preliminary testing, I was sent to the emergency room. Upon arriving at the emergency room, I was bumped to the front of the line. The stark reality sank in that permanent vision problems - or worse, some serious underlying condition - were a very real possibility. I was brought in, seen by no fewer than eight different doctors, and scheduled for all sorts of neurological and vision tests.

This isn’t a story about my eyes. My eyes are fine and in the end I was treated and diagnosed with a condition that causes Optic Neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerves and all prognosis are optimistic. My vision has made a full recovery and the ordeal ended with the best possible outcome. For that I am very, very grateful.

There is also an element to this story that most people reading probably will probably never need to think about for themselves, but do provide on a day-to-day basis through their work: effective communication access.

I arrived at the emergency room and told the person at the front desk that I am Deaf and required an ASL interpreter. They immediately texted for an interpreter and one showed up for my triage interview. The interpreter was very proficient - clearly a certified and experienced professional, and unlike experiences in other emergency rooms, I was able to focus on just being a patient. There was no need to ask, beg, negotiate, argue, persuade, convince, make threats for my rights to communication access in the emergency room. It was readily available by design.

The interpreter stayed with me and at the end of their shift, was relieved and replaced by another highly qualified professional and proficient interpreter and this repeated daily until my release (Optic Neuritis requires a multi-day treatment of IV steroids only administered inhouse, under observation). This was my experience for my entire stay at the hospital. Granted, I live in an area with a large population of Deaf ASL-users and there were other Deaf patients in and out of the emergency room, as well, and the interpreters were tag-teaming between us to provide communication access for our various needs. Seemingly, there was a comparatively well designed system set up that fostered not just effective communication access, but successful communication access.

I say comparatively because this experience is, unfortunately, the exception, rather than the norm.

In this specific emergency room, I never had to argue with hospital personnel as to why I need an interpreter, or justify why the interpreter should be nationally certified. I didn’t have to wrestle with an Ipad, deal with bad internet connectivity, explain to a doctor how to use an interpreter, or request another interpreter due to lack of sign proficiency or professionalism (and then argue again with hospital personnel as to why the current/present interpreter was ineffective). In my 48 years on this planet, while either accompanying someone or for myself, I can only remember witnessing or experiencing this level of successful communication access in emergency rooms twice.

Only twice.

This is a reality for many Deaf people. Whether we have effective communication access in emergency rooms and hospitals, never mind doctors appointments and follow-up, is literally hit or miss and often involves an exorbitant amount of self-advocacy to achieve. Deaf patients are so often forced to deprioritize their pain or medical condition at the moment to advocate for basic communication access. Within our community, every Deaf person has a horror story of something that happened to themselves or to a loved one who is Deaf, DeafBlind, Hard of Hearing, etc., and has been impacted by barriers to successful communications access in medical care. I have seen countless stories throughout my years of Deaf patients going to an emergency room and being told to wait for an interpreter before they can even be checked in, resulting in the emergency that brought them to the ER in the first place to go unattended for hours because there was no successful communication system in place.

A question I ask myself in the wake of this experience is: how can RID better work towards creating a norm for successful communication access, especially in high-risk/high consequence settings such as within hospitals and within all areas of healthcare? What advocacy work can be done to set standards, guide our professional practices, what laws can we lobby for that help to ensure that hospitals are held to better standards of access for our Deaf con- sumers? How do we better utilize deaf interpreters to enhance effectiveness? What tools can we develop to educate consumers towards better self-advocacy? Who can we partner with for collaborative advocacy efforts? And how do we give our advocacy efforts “teeth” in this arena?

As the nation’s sole professional organization of ASL interpreters and as advocates and stakeholders in the profession, it is incumbent upon RID to set clear standards, advocate for legislative reforms, and promote the use of qualified interpreters - including Deaf interpreters - in order to make meaningful progress towards a healthcare system that is truly inclusive and accessible to all, everywhere.

Moreover, empowering Deaf individuals with the tools and knowledge to advocate for their rights is essential in fostering a culture of self-advocacy and resilience. Through education and awareness initiatives, we can empower Deaf patients to navigate the complexities of healthcare with confidence and assertiveness.

In the pursuit of a more equitable healthcare landscape, the journey ahead may be challenging, but it is not insurmountable. Together, let us commit ourselves to the cause of ensuring that every Deaf individual receives the quality care and communication access they deserve, regardless of the barriers they may face. Only through concerted effort and collective action can we truly create a healthcare system that leaves no one out of successful communication access.