Does a Deaf person get a profoundly different experience in an ER when using VRI compared to a hearing person?
A. When using my recent ER experience as a comparison, the answer is an overwhelming no! If anything, VRI gives the deaf person a closer approximation to a hearing person’s experience. I was in the ER a little over 3 hours. During that time I spoke to the doctor twice, both times for less than 5 minutes. I spoke to a nurse twice and a tech once for a test. The lab tech came in and took my blood, but barely looked at me, never mind talking to me. If I had been Deaf, at each instance the person would have picked up a remote control, and hit “dial” and quickly been connected to the interpreter. The communication would have been equally to the point, but there would not have been an interpreter sitting in the hall waiting to go into the room each time communication was needed. Had I needed to speak to a nurse, I would have pushed the call button and if I had been Deaf, she would have pressed, “dial” and communication would have happened.
