Medicine for a deaf person

Hi


I have a BSc Psychology, MSc Psychology and MSc clinical neuroscience degrees. I am currently working as a healthcare assistant at one of the NHS trust. I have always wanted to study medicine but felt that my people would discriminate me against it because of my deafness. After studying a Masters in neuroscience and working as a healthcare assistant in a ward for 3 years, my passion to study medicine has become more stronger, and I feel frustrated that I can't even fulfill my dream and career goal because of my deafness. I can talk fine and people do understand me, the only downside is telephone conversations which I find difficult to grasp as I rely on lip-reading.


anyway I have started preparing for a GAMSAT exam and going to go for it, but the fear of discrimination is still there. I can't help but feel that all medical school will reject me because of my deafness, I want to know all your opinions on this?


Looking forward to reading all your feedbacks!


Take care

Universities, medical schools, postgraduate deaneries and employers have four fundamental duties in relation to disabled people.

oh wow! That is great! Not sure if I'm clinically deaf. I'm not hard of hearing as I can't hear without hearing aids although a lot of people have often assumed that I am partially deaf. I am currently profoundly deaf as my doctor said, although sometimes I don't think I am!

Sigh... The only thing I regretted is wasting my years, i wanted to do medicine straight after I graduated from my neuroscience degree but my self esteem was so low at that time, after working as healthcare assistant for three long years on a medical ward and working with a lot of patients, I believe I can do this and want to pursue this now more than ever! The only thing I am dreading is phone conversations and I am hoping there must be some sort of adjustments, maybe SMS? Argh, I really wish I can hear through phone I can hear people talking but can't figure out what they are saying on phone, apart from stuff like 'hello' etc..

also, is it possible to do two UCAS applications, one for graduate entry medicine and other for foundation years medicine?

You only have the 4 ucas choices for medicine, but you can do a mix of 4 and 5 year courses if you want. You're massively overqualified for the 6 year foundation medicine though. If you can do well in gamsat and/or ukcat I would think you would stand a good shot at the 4 yr GEM

Thank you

I know, I thought it will be easier to get into the foundation course, I've heard a lot about the graduate course and how highly competitive it is! Scary! So instead of wasting time, for example if I don't get into the graduate entry course, I might get into the foundation one, which is one year, so I'll be learning either way! Obviously it's more expensive this way...

Not being able to talk on the phone might be a little bit difficult :/ It is the current mainstay of hospital communication - how else to answer bleeps etc.? Maybe it would be worth approaching the hospital you're currently a healthcare assistant at and just asking what sorts of adaptations they know of & what could be put in place etc.

Absolutely I don't think you should be discriminated against because of your deafness, but I do know of people who have made it all the way through medical school with a disability and basically found themselves qualified but unable to advance. If there's something that prevents you from doing the job properly and acquiring competencies etc. then it might limit your future options. For instance somebody with essential tremor getting all the way through and then being unable to pass the practical competency of taking blood and suddenly basically facing a choice which includes none of the specialties they were interested in. This does and has happened to people, and whilst medical schools cannot discriminate at the end of the day if you can't meet job requirements you can end up at the world's most frustrating dead end that nobody ever told you about until you found yourself holed up there. There may be no actual limitation re: phone deafness and these core tasks (I have no idea) in which case there's nothing to worry about, but it might be worth doing some digging.

Good luck!

Contact the admissions teams of the Universities you are applying to and ask for clarification that it is not a barrier. There are deaf doctors out there, and I don't imagine they are allowed to discriminate, plus you have the advantage of empathising with deaf patients Good Luck!

Of course they aren't. It would be illegal (Equality Act 2010, previously Disability Discrimination Act 1995)

But you might say that it's essential to be able to reliably understand spoken instructions on the ward. Still, I'm certain it can be done OP

If rejection can be objectively justified it wouldn't be discrimination, would it?

Besides, even if unable to lip read there is something called sign language. To me it would seem a reasonable adjustment to allow a deaf person to have access to a sign language interpreter when on the wards.

Definitely a question to the universities there Most of us here would only be able to speculate

It's not speculation. It's the truth. Universities cannot discriminate and are legally obliged to make reasonable adjustments. As you admit yourself, there are deaf doctors. As the OP is hearing impaired, and can listen with hearing aids (I think), there shouldn't be a reason why she or he can't do medicine. At least when it comes to deafness.

Why was my post deleted? -_-