Even if I’m qualified for the admission per freshman profiles at particular colleges, I have been told that I can simply be rejected from a nursing program because I’m deaf.
Is this true/legal?
I would bet that’s illegal.
The idea of that infuriates me and I’m itching to start googling around to find out.
I should think that if you choose the right program, they would welcome you as you would add, just by the nature of your experience in the world, valuable perspective on care.
I’ve been looking around but if it is a public college they cannot discrinimate: however, if it is a private can they?
With a quick google search, one student took a private community college to court and was granted rights to complete the program after they dismissed her for being deaf. So at least somewhere, the court says they can’t.
Nursing is a entirely different factor from her case
You could try calling a nursing school and asking the question.
Well, SDSU says they will reject if you cannot perform “essential elements”
I’m sorry. I just realized I was really stupid in telling someone who is deaf to call the school and ask. So many people post questions here that can be answered with a simple phone call but I can’t believe how clueless my post was. I hope you weren’t offended.
That said, I do think the best thing to do is contact the school and ask. Send SDSU an email that asks exactly what that statement means and if there is anything required that a deaf person would not be able to do.
Have you researched what type of positions might be open to you if you complete this degree? The nurses I’ve dealt with would not have been able to perform their jobs without being able to speak extensively with patients during all aspects of care, perform medical exams including listening with stethoscopes and manual blood pressure units (yes there are automated machines but for various reasons these aren’t always satisfactory), and respond promptly to audible alarms on hospital equipment. That’s largely what they were doing. The nursing students I’ve interacted with were observing the nurses, listening to their conversations with patients as well as their verbal explanations, as well as the above.
My understanding is that they have to make reasonable accommodations but they don’t have to entirely change or drop the requirements. I’m skeptical this would work out but maybe there is a specialized niche you could fill.
There are specialized stethoscopes created specifically for hearing impaired. Interaction is DEFINITELY not an issue, because I’ve had a lot of practice growing up.
I already have worked in the hospital, interacting with patients and so forth. Yes, sometimes it is hard to understand them but that’s usually because they have heavy accents or are very drugged. I know my hearing will affect some factors but a lot of patient’s rooms have flashing lights and etc incase they need assistance.
I’m just worried that I will simply be denied because colleges don’t want to have to deal with the fact that I’m not self-sufficient in these kind of situations, which in this case I am. I feel like my only shot to express this is within an interview or my essays to say that my deafness is not a crutch, and does not hold me back.
If you do a web search for “deafness and nursing”, a bunch of pages will come up regarding nurses who are deaf.
I know that deaf people can become nurses, I was simply asking if a school can reject me from their program just because of my hearing loss.
I’m not a lawyer but I think they can if they determine that what you would require is not a reasonable accommodation. They may also be concerned about liability in the event that you don’t hear something medically important.
On the audible alarms, I was referring to portable medical equipment. I have not seen those with flashing lights. Even systems which may be built in incorporate audio in the monitoring system (eg. the beeping heart rate monitors).
It seems to me your best option might be trying to work with a hearing-impaired population where a deaf nurse could help rather than hinder communication with patients. But I’m not sure whether such patients would necessarily be in a particular patient group or practice.
You could not be denied admission into a program for being deaf. Period. And if you were, you could sue. And you do not need to say wood one about your disabilities in the admissions process. If the program is a direct admit based on stats, just give your stats. The only place I could even see being deaf to be a problem in hursing Education is when the use of a sign language interpreter could be a HIPPA problem. I’ve been to conferences where the Use of readers for disabled nursing students was discussed as a HIPPA violation.
I’m assuming you are truly deaf, and not just hearing impaired in a way that could be electronically corrected. I don’t mean to be callous, but even if a college would accept you as a nursing major, there is a risk that a hospital would refuse to approve you for clinicals. I’d suggest considering looking for a field that involves a little less threat of a communications delay or communications problem resulting in serious injury to others. I imagine there are other health care fields that would involve a lower risk to patients.
Here’s one report I found:
"State Boards of Nursing are all mandated to ensure patient safety. By including a wide variety of people with different life experiences, we will be able to ensure safety as well as meet the critical need to provide culturally relevant care within our communities. For instance, having nurses who are Deaf and use American Sign Language or are proficient with reading lips can meet a vast unmet need; and, most likely will enhance safe patient care, as they will be able to communicate directly with people who are Deaf and not rely on interpreters (especially good for people receiving psychotherapy and people making life altering decisions). Additionally, nurses who are hard of hearing often have an enhanced skill in being able to read lips which could easily be an essential job function when trying to communicate with someone who is only able to move their lips. For example, one hospital in California has a respiratory therapist who is deaf and in high demand because she is the only person who can accurately read the lips of cancer patients who have recently undergone a tracheotomy and can’t talk[46]. Nurses with disabilities are often hyper-vigilant in regards to safe practice, as they often know from personal experiences the pitfalls of unsafe nursing care. "
https://scholar.google.com/scholar?um=1&ie=UTF-8&lr&q=related:qo5sxtv_5cL5dM:scholar.google.com/