Meet Asha, a deaf nurse, determined to improve deaf patients’ experience! (BSL)

My name is Asha I’m based in London and I am a paediatric nurse in critical care. I am also a deaf, bilateral hearing aid user.

I actually didn’t grow up wanting to be a nurse, the idea didn’t even really occur to me until I started thinking about my career choices and what suited me.

Growing up there weren’t any role models for me to follow so I did not really think about what I wanted to do and whenever I did suggest something it would unfortunately always be answered with “oh maybe you should not do that one because you’re deaf.”

I didn’t even get the chance to meet another deaf nurse, and especially not when I was growing up. So I never saw these role models around me. In fact I didn’t meet another deaf nurse until I qualified a few years afterwards.

I actually trained at Kingston University. This University was absolutely fantastic for me because the lecturers already had experience teaching deaf students and there was also a deaf team support unit with staff who already knew the support that a deaf student would require.

Nowadays, working in critical care every day is different. There is no typical day in critical care as everyday brings different things. Sometimes you can go into work thinking it will be a nice simple shift, but by the afternoon it may take a complete 360 with numerous emergencies. You just never know what’s going to happen or who is going to come through the door!

Regarding communication, with hearing people I am able to speak for myself and use English. I also make use of BSL interpreters especially when I’m taking part in meetings.

I would say there are definitely advantages to being a deaf nurse, my colleagues actually always rely on me to lipread their patients for them especially if we have bigger children.

For example,  sometimes patients have a breathing tube down them so they cannot talk loudly but only mouth silently what they are saying! This is something I can work with and lipread.

There are also definitely lots of barriers I have faced during my career. For example, there was one work placement where I had to use the phone a lot to arrange my own diary and my mentor at the time was not supportive of me and my needs. So with this scenario a couple of words were exchanged and clear discussions were needed.

Just before the Covid pandemic hit, I decided to set up my social media pages where I now share deaf awareness and medical related signs online to a large following. I remember back when we were faced with the lockdown I realised how much I really wanted to raise awareness of deaf/ HoH (hard of hearing) professionals that work in the NHS and explain how much we rely on lip reading.

I also wanted to improve deaf patient experiences as I know that people using basic signs can go a long way to making a deaf patient feel more at ease and included. In the medical field I would love to see more accessibility and awareness for deaf and HoH patients.

I do have further ambitions with my work, I really hope to go further in my career, but it all depends what opportunities arise for me!

If anyone reading this is deaf and thinking of going into nursing, please remember it’s not an easy road but don’t give up! Find a network of deaf HCP (health care practitioners) as they really know what you are going through and will be able to support you!

You can find Asha on Instagram @justmecameil