Three things I want health workers to know as a Deaf Person

Life is pretty busy as a dad of three sport-loving sons. I’m often the taxi driver in between different practices and tournaments, I coach the kids’ rugby and basketball teams, and I enjoy a good game of cricket myself.

It’s all pretty standard until one of my kids gets sick, my wife is in labour, or I need to get treatment for a wayward cricket ball injury. That’s when things get unnecessarily tricky for me as a Deaf person. When I go to these appointments, whether for myself or as a support person or parent, I need an NZSL interpreter to be booked.

Now, that in itself is not the most complicated thing, the Ministry of Health has funding available and there are interpreting agencies that have interpreters available 24/7. But time and time again, no interpreters are booked, and when I ask, it all becomes too hard, and I’m faced with: “Do you have an interpreter you can bring with you?”, as if I have a pocket-sized interpreter I carry around in case of emergencies.

Unfortunately, the biggest barrier for me is the people: the people within the health system who think lip-reading is an equitable way to access healthcare, that if my child can hear, then asking for an interpreter as a Deaf parent is invalid, or that, as my wife lies in her hospital bed receiving emergency treatment, surely she could just interpret for me?

People don’t know what they don’t know, but their ignorance creates barriers for me and my whānau.

That’s why I co-founded Deaf Way; because if healthcare workers had a way to upskill, or just to gain a little knowledge and awareness, and could do so for free and in their own time, then we could remove the barriers in healthcare that people unintentionally create for Deaf people like myself.

A large part of the work we do at Deaf Way is provide resources in NZSL and resources for industries such as healthcare. We do this off our own backs and charitable donations, including a recent $5000 grant from Canon, which we are using to provide accessible financial information and courses for Deaf people in Aotearoa. 

For us, the most important thing is ensuring Deaf people have equitable and appropriate access to key services like healthcare.  So here are the three things I want health workers to know as a Deaf person:

1. Yes, we need NZSL interpreters!

We don’t want our children, our partners, our parents or a staff member who has learnt to fingerspell their name interpreting for us. We will take a qualified NZSL interpreter please, because we have a right to effective communication.

2. We are a language and cultural community

We have a culture, values, and our own language (an official language of Aotearoa). We are not all the same and there is a rich diversity within the Deaf community.

3. Please stop calling us

Please text, email or use the NZ Relay service to contact us. Please stop calling us on our cell phones and leaving voicemail messages (for obvious reasons!).