Introduction
The film Early Intervention: The Missing Link foregrounds the challenges faced by parents of deaf children. The video featuring poor relay of information on hearing loss diagnosis was released on 9th December 2011. Rachel Benedict, the narrator of the film, pivots on describing how deaf people are a normal community using a different method of communication, confident, not disabled, and how physicians ought to be more sensitive to hearing families of deaf children. The video highlights the negative correlation between poor communication regarding hearing loss for children in hospitals and parents’ coping abilities.
Summary of the Video
In the video Early Intervention: The Missing Link, the plot is about uncertainties faced by parents who give birth to deaf children. A catchy phrase is used to introduce the topic of the presentation in the video. Using an audio voice and background sight words, a woman uses sign language to describe the shock parents experience upon discovering their children are deaf at birth. Aside from the diagnosis of hearing loss, limited communication options and sign language interpreters are other major challenges facing guardians of children with hearing challenges. The film identifies that the diagnosis of hearing problems among infants is traumatizing to the parents; hence the use of negative vocabulary by doctors is inappropriate.
The negative terminology used by audiologists makes parents perceive the upbringing of deaf children to be a burden. The communication language used primarily during diagnosis and announcement for hearing challenges overwhelms parents with unexpected information. For instance, when a doctor uses the word diagnosed, typically used for disease, cancer, or possible death, they make the parents deem deafness as very debilitating (Benedict, 2011). According to the video, using the word identified rather than diagnosed would be more coping for the parents.
The film recommends using positive vocabulary and discussing cultural aspects during the diagnosis of hearing loss. Referring to undefined research studies, the video describes how using optimistic language and including cultural aspects would positively affect the parents’ assurance and sense of relief (Benedict, 2011). According to the narrators’ presumptuous opinion, the presence of deaf doctors to manage children with hearing loss and meet with their parents would enhance the delivery of medical reports on hearing ability.
Opinion
The video accurately details the challenges regarding present-day deaf culture and how it affects the relationship between hearing parents and their hearing-challenged children. The use of common examples of vocabulary likely to be used by doctors during diagnosis makes the video relative to the audience and more authentic. For example, the reporter tells how it is common for doctors to use the word “sorry” when announcing negative results. The insights and recommendations from the video are suitable to my course considering it is educative on how soft skills for health professionals influence patients and their families. However, the assumption of the video is very generalized and inconsiderate that some doctors are warm-hearted and empathetic.
Conclusion
Ultimately, the filmmaker was successful in reporting how poor communications and relations by healthcare professionals affect the perceptions and misconceptions about deafness. She accurately describes how using optimistic language and including cultural aspects would positively affect the parents’ assurance and sense of relief. The three things I learned from the video include that hearing problems are not a disability, communication is key in care delivery and that the lack of role models for the deaf in health care is the missing link Relative to my course topic, the film has helped me understand that having a positive attitude towards deaf children helps parents realize that deaf people are intelligent, completely normal, and able to communicate.
Reference
Benedict, R. (2011). Early Intervention: The Missing Link. YouTube. Web.