In 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was signed into law. Title III of the ADA prohibits discrimination on the basis of disability in the full and equal enjoyment of goods, services, facilities, privileges, advantages, and accommodations of public accommodations. To comply with the ADA regarding deaf and hard of hearing individuals, a medical facility must find ways to ensure effective communication, including the provision of assistive devices and sign language interpreters. In spite of this federal regulation, most health care providers are not accommodating the needs of deaf and hard of hearing people (CHCA; Hamlin & DeLeeuw, 1998). In addition to knowing what the structural barriers are for deaf and hard of hearing medical consumers, it is important to understand the experiences of this population when encountering inaccessible or user-unfriendly environments. To this end, focus groups were conducted with deaf and hard of hearing individuals in several major U.S. cities to examine their experiences with physicians and the medical community. This paper will examine the psychological reactions of the consumers as a result of inaccessible medical care. Common reactions many deaf people report, and which will be discussed in this presentation include: 1) learned helpless -- not using or underutilizing medical care, even at the cost of one’s health because of previous negative experiences, and 2) reverse accommodation -- accommodating the needs of the service provider rather than being accommodated.
Learning Objectives: During this session, the panelist will discuss recent research regarding the structural barriers are for deaf and hard of hearing medical consumers and will help participants to understand the experiences of this population when encountering inaccessible or user-unfriendly environments
Keywords: Deaf, Access and Services
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.