Addressing the Health Needs of the (D/d)eaf and Hard of Hearing Community

Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines deaf to describe an individual who has total or partial hearing loss. However, the term carries much more weight as it breeds its own culture, Deaf culture, to be exact. There’s an emphasis placed on the spelling where deaf, spelled with a lowercase d, refers to individuals who are born deaf and grew up within this deaf culture. Whereas, members who identify as Deaf with a capital D have lost their hearing later on in life, and did not necessarily grow up within deaf culture. There is often a discrepancy whereby members who identify as d/Deaf or hard of hearing (d/D/hoh) are often confused for having a cognitive impairment or are grouped with the disabled. However, members see their deafness as a way of life, a culture, rather than a disability. While variants exist, most members of the d/D/hoh community use American Sign Language (ASL). This often creates gaps within communication, especially in the healthcare setting where medical terminology is not easily understood. This research explores the consequences and proposed interventions for the common trends that negatively impact the d/D/hoh community within the clinical setting. The data used in this study was sourced from various search engines including PubMed and Scopus. Results indicated that d/Deaf individuals are less likely to trust their physicians and are less likely to understand diagnoses or follow-up instructions. While communicating, d/Deaf individuals often experience lack of eye contact from healthcare providers, which is often a great source of frustration. Data also showed that women often feel embarrassed when communicating about their health through an interpreter. Surprisingly, it was found that case-based learning raises awareness of such populations and provides insight on how to provide care that best meets their needs. These consequences and more lead to a great deal of frustration among the d/D/hoh community, often discouraging these members from following up with their health. These findings demonstrate a need for intervention; to increase deaf cultural training within healthcare. Efforts can be put forth to make the clinical setting a more inclusive environment for the d/D/hoh community

Food Insecurity and Dietary Restrictions

According to the USDA Food Insecurity affects around 10.2 percent of the US population as of 2021. For families that have members with certain dietary restriction such as, but not limited to diabetes, hypertension, gluten intolerance, lactose intolerance, and food allergies, the challenge of securing food becomes an even greater burden with having to navigate food banks or discount stores that may not offer food items that meet their dietary requirements. Families with dietary restrictions often face greater food insecurity and less access to food. More research is needed to understand the challenges families with dietary restrictions face regarding food insecurity, especially on a state level for New Jersey, as well as providing ways for said families to understand the nutritional content and ingredients on the food they’re acquiring