Maternal Health Must Include Deaf Parents

[Video Description: The post has a video thumbnail with blue shading overlaid. The middle has a text bubble that reads “Maternal health must include deaf parents” in white text with rose background. In the video, a woman with blonde wavy hair is sitting in front of the camera with shelves, books, and decorative items behind her. She is wearing a blue shirt.  

Transcript: Hello everyone, my name is Allysa Dittmar. I’m the Vice President of DeafHealth, the health and patient advocacy division at Communication Service for the Deaf (commonly known as CSD), one of the largest non-profits in the United States that provides services for deaf people by deaf people. I am deaf, I am a woman, I am a public health researcher, and most recently, I am a mom. I recently just gave birth to my baby. That experience was emotionally and physically difficult. I was very vulnerable. Not because of the emotional and physical aspect, but because of communication. My birth was not easy. It was an emergency C-section. When I was rushed into the Operating Room, my deaf husband was left alone without a sign language interpreter, to help facilitate what was going on. His first and native language is American Sign Language, just like me. He didn’t know what was happening to his wife, and baby, whose heart was failing. Fortunately, much to our relief, the baby was born healthy and survived. During the recovery process in the hospital, I laid there and broke down crying because they had wheeled in a small screen, iPad size, with an interpreter on-screen, blurry, barely visible, the connection breaking up. I couldn’t understand. I couldn’t even lean upwards and closer, because of my C-section. I was so frustrated because several weeks ago, repeatedly, I had asked them over and over to ensure there would be an in-person, live interpreter for this situation: birth, a huge medical and life-changing experience. That didn’t happen. Postpartum was tough. I almost died. Again, I didn’t have access to interpreters. That journey of becoming a mother crystallized what I’ve always known: the healthcare system is not built for Deaf people like me. I’m a researcher myself, and I already knew that Deaf pregnant and birthing individuals experience worse maternal health outcomes than the average person who can hear. I’ve lived this now. I’ve already not received an interpreter or any communication access at all, in the past during a major surgery. I’ve already signed consent forms that I didn’t know about. I’ve already experienced a death firsthand, my mother, where I was unable to call or text 911 due to inaccessible technologies, an extremely traumatic situation. I’ve already filed complaints against the healthcare system that went nowhere, because the system doesn’t hold itself accountable for failing deaf patients. I’ve already watched deaf friends and family avoid care altogether because they were tired of fighting just to get basic access and to be seen and heard. As a consequence, they end up in the ER later. I’ve had to become my own advocate, interpreter - yes, me - and navigator, because the system rarely provides what I need to survive, let alone thrive. Today, as funding for disability services is slashed and communities, especially marginalized communities, are pushed further to the fringes, and swept under the rug, our work is so important. We cannot stop basic access to care. But also, we can’t accept and tolerate the current status quo. We need to continue work towards a better, equitable, and inclusive healthcare system. Most importantly, for my community, we need a healthcare system where language access is a right, not a luxury. Thank you. [The screen fades to show a thumbnail of a faded white background of a doctor holding hands with another individual] Deaf. Healthy. DeafHealth. Learn more at www.deafhealthaccess.org.].