How do you work with a culturally deaf resident?

When you are trying to gain the deaf resident’s attention: don’t bother trying using your voice - try these examples;


  1. 1.Tapping them gently on their shoulder. Never tap anywhere else such as their head or their back as it is rude.


  1. 2.Flashing the lights - use the switch to turn the lights on or off, then once they’re looking around for the person who’s doing this, you can wave and sign for them to come to you. Don’t use a torch or laser lights.


  1. 3.Depending on what the floor is made of, you can stamp your foot so that the deaf resident will feel the vibration. They will look up and you can wave so they know who wanted them to look up.


  1. 4.Wave for them to see you, but don’t do it in front of their faces and not at a close proximity. It is rude to wave your hand directly in someone’s face.


  1. 5.The speed and strength in how you try to get their attention will also show your feelings towards them, for example:


  1. •tapping on shoulder urgently and fast will let them know that there is an emergency.


  1. •hard tapping will let them know that you are either impatient or angry at them.


  1. •if you just want them to look at you, tap gently.


  1. •it is the same for stamping on the floor or flashing the lights. If you do it fast, the

deaf resident will think you might be angry or there is something urgent you need to tell them.


Ideas for support


If you have a deaf resident, it is important to make sure that all staff know that they are deaf. You could put a note next to their bed, on their door and in their case notes to say that they are deaf.


This can avoid confusion and annoyance for staff. Sometimes staff members have been annoyed because they thought a resident was ignoring them. When the staff member found out that the resident was not ignoring them but was deaf, the staff member was already too annoyed to treat the deaf resident politely. If the staff member had known the resident was deaf, everyone would have had a better time.


If the deaf resident isn’t looking at you, please tap them on the shoulder before you start talking to them. The deaf resident will know that you want to talk to them. Please do this if you want to say anything that is good or bad. There have been situations where staff only tapped the deaf resident on the shoulder to tell her something bad. This meant the deaf resident hated being tapped on the shoulder because it was always something bad.