Deaf Strong Hospital

The goal of this annual training is for hearing people to understand the challenges of communicating about health care with people who are deaf or who use nonverbal methods of communication. Participants—health care practitioners who are not fluent in American Sign Language (ASL)—are given a list of symptoms and asked to explain them nonverbally to a health care provider (a volunteer who is deaf and is acting as a physician who communicates in ASL only). Using the information conveyed, the deaf volunteer makes a diagnosis and prescribes treatment. Following the activity, participants attend a lecture about sociocultural aspects of the deaf community and take part in a debriefing to discuss their successes and difficulties communicating with deaf people.

Audience
The training is intended for health care providers and public health practitioners, and for students enrolled in health professions at the University of Rochester.

Duration
½ day – 1 day (4–8 hours).