According to Forbes, more than “1.5 billion people worldwide are affected by hearing loss.”
In health care, it can be a continuous struggle for the hard of hearing to receive proper care. “Most medical training programs fail to adequately prepare medical staff to effectively communicate with deaf individuals,” noted the National Association of the Deaf.
One Seattle nurse is hoping to change that — one TikTok video at a time.
“I wanted to show people that it was possible for deaf people to travel, go to nursing school, like the little things,” explained Mikaela Thepvongsa — user name @NurseKaela — to Komo 4 Seattle.
Thepvongsa went to nursing school at Washington State University, where her “clinical instructor told her to drop out because she was deaf,” reported the outlet. Instead of listening to her instructor though, Thepvongsa stuck with it, and — relying on lip reading — went on to graduate.
Her TikTok account has more than 250,000 followers, asnd she takes to the app almost daily to share insights into the world of health care through the eyes of a deaf nurse, bringing attention to the challenges of language barriers in health care among other things.
