15 Years With Hearing Loss: How Communication Barriers Lock Deaf Patients Out of Healthcare
Health-e News 15 Years With Hearing Loss: How Communication Barriers Lock Deaf Patients Out of Healthcare For 15 years, Maria Sikhosana from Orange Farm has relied on family members to take phone calls, listen to messages and help her communicate when she needs healthcare. The 43-year-old single mother of 12-year-old twins says she lost her hearing at the age of 28 after she was assaulted by her…
Maria Sikhosana, a 43-year-old woman from Orange Farm, has been living with hearing loss for 15 years after being assaulted by her boyfriend in 2010. Since then, accessing healthcare has been a challenge due to communication barriers and dependence on family members for help. After losing her hearing, Maria was referred to the Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital, but her sister's phone failure caused her to miss her follow-up appointment.
Her hearing loss has made her dependent on family members for communication, affecting her independence and social interactions. The Deaf-Care Healthcare Initiative South Africa (DCHI) acknowledges communication as a significant barrier to healthcare access for deaf individuals. DCHI's Seneliso Nkoyeni points out that an adult who loses hearing post-violence and lacks sign language proficiency is particularly vulnerable.
Nkoyeni argues that the healthcare system must adopt a language-independent approach for patients like Maria, involving qualified audiologists, visual communication boards, and trained female Deaf Relay interpreters. DCHI has offered to help Maria access care and accompany her to an audiology clinic for an assessment.
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