Medical Students Develop
Sign Language Skills
by Erick Posner
An innovative program
is gaining nationwide recognition in the medical and scientific
community for giving medical students American Sign Language (ASL)
skills. Since June 2003, the National Cancer Institute has funded
a program called “American Sign Language, Deaf Culture
and Cancer Control Program for Medical Students” at the Rebecca
and John Moores University of California at San Diego (UCSD) Cancer
Center.
According to Melanie
C. Nakaji, the program’s project coordinator
and ASL instructor, the program has several goals: “to produce
physicians who are informed about cancer prevention and control;
to respect the deaf community’s cultural beliefs, values, and
traditions; to comfortably work with the deaf community; to have
a solid working proficiency in ASL; to have ability to improve the
deaf com-munity’s access to health information and care; to
serve as clinical leaders and role models in advancing the health
of the deaf community.”
The Deaf Community Service
(DCS) in San Diego envisioned the program in 1997, when they identified
the deaf community’s needs. “Lack
of easy access to information was the biggest problem,” said
Nakaji. Other issues included doctors’ lack of knowledge in
utilizing interpreters, deaf culture, and ASL skills. The first class
of seven students, who enrolled in 2003, will graduate from UCSD
School of Medicine in 2007. A special certificate will be given to
all ASL fellows who complete the two-year training program. There
are currently 21 medical students enrolled in the program.
Before entering medical school, the students receive reading materials
and videotapes about Deaf culture. During their first and second
years in medical school, the students are enrolled in ASL courses.
They also participate in an immersion program at Gallaudet University
during the summer after the first year of medical school. Part of
the curriculum is to conduct a required research project on a subject
that should advance the health of the deaf community. They are also
expected to take at least one fourth-year elective where they will
interact with members of the deaf community.
The main motivation
for participation in the program stems from the students’ desire to “work with people in under-served
communities, said Nakaji. In addition, the program gives them a chance
to learn an entirely new language and culture.” Nakaji suggests
that the program does have some challenges, “the biggest of
them is to try to figure out how to make it possible for students
to add all these learning activities on top of their already full-time
academic schedule.” However, even with challenges to overcome,
the program was recognized as the “2004 Education Partner of
the Year by Deaf President Now.”
UCSD has several future
goals for the medical student - ASL program. Nakaji states that
the “the most important future goals are
to: encourage medical schools to recruit medical students who are
already culturally sensitive and have ASL skills; show other schools
how to replicate the program and to encourage medical schools to
create programs to train deaf medical students.”
This article appeared
in SIGNews’ December 2005 issue. Reprinted
with permission.
