Attending Nursing School with Hearing Loss

by Donna Maheady Ed.D., ARNP

Editor: People with hearing loss have a much easier time attending college than they did years ago; note takers, CART, FM systems, etc. provide today's student with advantages unimagined not too long ago. So why would someone with hearing loss choose to reject all these resources, a decision that surely made school much more difficult? Here's one person's answer to that question.

This article was originally published in Hearing Health Magazine and can be found online at http://www.drf.org/hearing_health/Archive/2005/sum05_nursingschoolHL_ex.htm. It is an excerpt from "Nursing Students with Disabilities Change the Course" by Donna Maheady Ed.D., ARNP. The book, which won the AJN 2004 Book of the Year Award, is available at www.eplibrary.com and at www.Amazon.com.

You can contact Donna at ExceptionalNurse@aol.com or visit www.ExceptionalNurse.com. This article is reprinted with permission from Donna and DRF.

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Nursing School with Hearing Loss: My Biggest Fear Was That Someone Would Find Out

I always wanted to be a nurse but being honest about my disability backfired on me. I had applied for an associate degree program in nursing. When I visited with the program director, I admitted my hearing disability. The director told me she didn't think I could make it through the program. I was more than a little discouraged. I put nursing school on the shelf, applied to college and earned a bachelor's degree in business.

Never given up on my dream of nursing, after graduation I reapplied for the nursing program. This time I didn't disclose my hearing disability. I graduated with a 3.9 grade point average, which helped me realize that I could do the work in nursing school if no one knew.

In nursing school, I wore a hearing aid and covered it with my hair. I didn't tell any of the faculty but finally one instructor caught on. She went to the program director, who, for other reasons, was not my biggest fan. She had said to me on more than one occasion, "Your degree in business isn't going to help you here." The director wanted me to give up the program, but I would not.

Nursing school was indeed stressful. I lived with two other nursing students. We pulled each other through the program by leveraging my study skills with their practical experience and listening skills. In the practical applications, I had some challenges as well, such as distinguishing lung sounds.

The night-shift nurses usually voice-recorded patient reports for the day nurses. When the day-shift students arrived, we listened to these taped reports. That was a challenge for me because some tapes were poor quality. I overcame that obstacle by arriving early enough to receive my patient reports verbally.

I never explained my disability to patients. I was too afraid they would report it and say, "She's not a very good nurse." Or, I feared they would use my disability to discredit my nursing care and me. I usually didn't hear a request when my back was turned or when I was on my way out of the door. Patients would sometimes say, "You didn't hear that?" or "You walked out of the room, I called your name and you didn't hear me." I simply responded that I was on the way out, or I had my mind on something else but I never confirmed that I didn't hear them.

Through the fears and the challenges, I stuck it out and finally graduated. After graduation, I was hired by a nearby hospital for a position on a medical-surgical nursing floor. Three months after graduation, I passed the nursing board examination with flying colors.

Full Disclosure

If I had it to do again, I would arrange for the needed support services with the office for students. My biggest fear in nursing school was that somebody would find out I had a disability and say, "I'm sorry, we have to cut you from the program." I had no doubt that I would be ousted if discovered. That fear-however rational or irrational-put a tremendous stress on me. I know I should have told my instructors in the beginning, but I didn't. My lack of disclosure was like lying. I was constantly worried about when the bomb would drop.