If you are disabled, then finding quality healthcare can be a challenge. If you are a healthcare provider, you are probably always on the lookout to ensure that your medical practices for your disabled patients are always top-notch. Luckily, either way, there are some principles available that can help you. Consider some of these healthcare practices that can make a huge difference to someone who is disabled.
Disability Etiquette Training
The first guideline when it comes to disability etiquette training is to exercise your normal common sense when it comes to all of your dealings with a disabled individual. First of all, you should use “people first” language when dealing with your patients in order to show them that they are more than just their disabilities. You should also refrain from asking questions about someone’s disability unless they bring it up themselves. Speak directly to the person and offer to shake hands if they don’t have a hand disability.
Interpretive Services
For deaf people, communicating in a medical setting can sometimes be frustrating. In this case, there are interpretive services for them to make their lives easier. Unfortunately, there are challenges to interpretive services for deaf individuals. Knowing ASL in itself is good, but adding a medical component to communication compounds the difficulty when communicating via sign language. In these situations, it can be very helpful to have a trained medical ASL interpreter.
Providing Up-to-Date Assistive Technology
Another solid inclusionary practice would be to be sure to provide assistive technology to disabled individuals. This includes things that help a person travel, work, learn, engage in social and recreational activities, and communicate with others. Assistive technology aids can be as simple as a magnifying glass to more complex things like text-to-speech software. Walkers, scooters, vehicles with hand-controls, and motorized wheelchairs are also important for those who need help getting around. Smartphones have also gone a long way in assisting disabled individuals, particularly with their smart voice technology for those patients who have hand disabilities. Your healthcare firm should have representatives that will help your disabled patients procure these items, and that would definitely go a long way in helping them meet their daily needs.
Whatever your organization or business might be, you will make a huge difference if you can provide some of these disability-inclusive practices. It will vastly improve the experience of those patients who are disabled and will make doctor’s visits more of a positive experience for both patients and doctors.
