The State Confederation of Deaf People (CNSE) presented this week the Good Practices Guide in the socio-sanitary care of elderly deaf people in residences.
The document includes a series of practical recommendations aimed at residences and professionals in the socio-sanitary field, ranging from training staff in sign language and deaf culture, to adapting the physical environment with visual signage, luminous alarm systems, and spaces that encourage visual contact.
It also addresses the importance of guaranteeing the right to effective communication by incorporating interpreters, mediators, and proven technologies such as the SVIsual video interpretation service or the VidAsor video assistance and accompaniment service, and promotes the celebration of significant dates for the deaf community, the design of inclusive activities, and the maintenance of links with local associations.
The presented guide is a direct response to the multiple barriers faced by elderly deaf people in the residential environment, especially regarding access to information, communication, and community participation.
It emerges, in fact, under the protection of Royal Decree 674/2023, which establishes a person-centered care model and universal accessibility, and specifically recognizes the needs of deaf people in social and health services.
During its presentation, CNSE President Roberto Suárez highlighted that the publication of this guide represents «an act of justice for a historically invisible and systematically ignored collective by public policies.»
«What they demand is not compassion, but dignity, presence, and participation. And that is exactly what this resource we are presenting today guarantees,» he said.
Suárez denounced the «isolation» situation suffered by the elderly deaf population. A structural issue that, in his opinion, requires urgent responses from the authorities: «We cannot continue to allow an elderly deaf person to enter a residence and feel that the world becomes alien to them, that their language does not exist, and that their experiences and memories have no echo.»
In this sense, he emphasized that the lack of communicative accessibility «not only affects the quality of life of these elderly people but also violates fundamental rights such as the right to actively participate in decisions about their own life, to relate to their environment and maintain their linguistic and cultural identity.»
«Residences should be spaces of care, but also of belongings. And without accessibility, there are no possible belongings,» concluded the CNSE President.