Interpreting in Healthcare Settings

Coming from a Deaf family, Heidi had been thinking about whether or not her child would be Deaf. When the doctor reported that her son passed the hearing screening, she was a little disappointed. She had mostly thought he would be Deaf, given her family history and her siblings having Deaf children. She was glad that the doctor was very supportive—not being matter of fact about the child being able to hear, but presenting many different scenarios that the child could become Deaf later.

It was new for Heidi and her family to have a member who could hear. She didn’t want to force him to be fully immersed in the Deaf world, but wanted him to get the best of both worlds. The family had many questions about what types of gifts to get. Heidi suggested things related to music and sound. Through it all, it is going fine.

Jeff really didn’t think much about whether the child would be Deaf or not…or even about gender. In the excitement of the delivery, he forgot to even notice the gender of his child, and only really saw it when Heidi told him their child was a boy.