Check yourself before you, well, you know...

ASHA posted this link to Hearing Health Magazine, and it truly opened my eyes to some misconceptions that I had held.

17 Misconceptions about People with Hearing Loss
By: Janice Schacter

I usually feel certain that I am addressing people with communication disorders, cognitive impairments, or physical disabilities in a respectful and professional way. I see them as a person first, then as a "person with ____". When I worked in the schools and spent more time on language disorders and fluency disorders, one of my primary educational outreaches was for professionals and families not to assume that any child with a LLD, fluency disorder, or LD had a lower IQ. In the geriatric population, I try to educate staff so that they know that a person with aphasia still retains their intelligence, and that persons with dementia can still participate in daily life.

When I I started to read the article, I was thinking that I would be pleased with myself for avoiding any misconceptions concerning hearing loss. Wrong! I am glad that I did not fall under any of the "major" misconceptions (deaf people have lower IQs, people with hearing loss are unsuccessful, etc.), but here are some of the ideas I've been able to re-examine:

PEOPLE WITH HEARING LOSS TEND TO BE OLDER ADULTS.
I think I looked twice at this because I work in geriatrics, but this helped me put things back into perspective. I might add that another misconception people hold is that all older adults are hearing impaired hard of hearing. My skin crawls when I hear a nurse or CNA yelling into the ear of a person with dementia or aphasia, thinking that they must not hear well because they are slow to respond.

DEAF, HEARING IMPAIRED, HANDICAPPED OR DISABLED ONE IS AS GOOD AS THE OTHER.
I do believe I have used the term "hearing impaired". Look above-- I caught myself while typing this blog post! I thought it sounded, well, professional and described a patient's impairment, as we are required to do on our evaluations. I also use "reduced hearing acuity" and "hard of hearing", especially when the patient/ family describes hearing loss, but this has not been addressed by an audiologist or documented by an MD. I did some preliminary web research and found this on ASL University : DrVicars: Politicians used to think the word "Deaf" was not PC. Politicians preferred the term "hearing impaired," but the Deaf community loves the word "Deaf." You could say it is "CC" --culturally correct. I am doing more research on this because I am kind of passionate about these things, but for now my feeling that it's best not to use the term "hearing impaired".

I have another blog post in the works about acceptable terms and professional language, but let's wrap this one up for now. I believe it is so important to remain aware of the misconceptions that can creep in, as well as the changes in culture and attitudes. I like to refer to people as they prefer, and when in doubt...check yourself!

Coping with Caregiving

Coping with Caregiving is an internet radio show focused on long term care, planning, and aging in general. The fourth segment from the top is an interview about dysphagia.

Keeping Up...

A Blog a Day is difficult, given that after my 9-5 job, I rush off to dance class, Capoeira, rehearsal or some other activity. And sometimes I like to just hang out with my husband too.

This week I started posting a BHSM "Fact of the Day" on the bulletin board that I decorated for BHSM. So far, I am getting great feedback from staff, and the information is sparking conversations about what SLPs actually do.

We returned from a long weekend in St. Augustine, exhausted and with an ailing vehicle, on Sunday. On Monday, I hit the ground running, fueled by caffeine! My May 2 blog post never materialized, so I have a bonus post today.

I know everyone is reading posts and blogs that are asking, "What are you doing to celebrate BSHM?" Well, what are you doing? Once upon a time, when I worked in the school system, we had contests for the kids, made posters, announced communication facts over the PA system, held coloring contests, and so on.

This year, I am putting up a bulletin board on one of the halls in the SNF; I have one or two high-level patients who could assist me as part of therapy. I want to have some sort of a staff contest, but I haven't fleshed the details out yet. I have three more weeks, right? I did buy some appreciation gifts for our department. That just about sums up all of my plans so far, although I am hoping some inspiration strikes and I get something more exciting going.

I just noticed today the sometimes I type "Better Speech and Hearing Month" and sometimes I refer to it as "Better Hearing and Speech Month"; however, it is officially BHSM on the ASHA site.

Another link for those of us working in dysphagia therapy: http://www.dysphagia.com/

Dysphagia on the Web

Most of the information and therapy materials on the web seem to be geared towards peds and school-based practice. I love the Dysphagia Therapy group on Facebook , and the group's creator also has her own blog focusing on dysphagia.

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=group_102453736503465

http://apujo5.blogspot.com/

And since I'm catching up on blogs, here is ASHA's official blog.

http://blog.asha.org/