Deaf people avoid seeking healthcare services due to issues of access. In many countries, healthcare organisations are required to provide sign language interpreters (SLIs) for Deaf patients, but in Malaysia there is a lack of trained SLIs and no such legislation exists.

Prof Uma Palanisamy co-founded the HEARD (HEAlth needs of the Deaf) program at Monash. Here she worked with the Deaf community and industry in collaborative research to develop the DITE app (Deaf in Touch everywhere) which connects the Deaf to medical practitioners through secure video-based interpreters.

In this webinar, which is part of the International PPI Network: Learning Live webinar series, the presenter discussed the creation of the DITE app, the successes and learnings of involving members of the Deaf community throughout the research, and the importance of inclusive involvement. 

The webinar was aimed at anyone interested in patient and public involvement and community engagement. It was delivered in October 2024 and below you will find the videos from the webinar, together with accompanying slides to download [PDF].

Part 1: Presentation
Part 2: Questions & answers

Presenter bio

Professor Uma Palanisamy is primarily a pre-clinical medical and pharmacy educationist and researcher. Prof Uma has been involved in health promotion research and education with marginalised populations for over 10 years. She strongly advocates that community engagement practices in undergraduate teaching prepares global citizens and provides real-world learning experiences. She has designed, spearheaded, and led three such programs; Community Based Practice at School of Medicine, Community Engagement Elective at School of Pharmacy and recently the Campus Community Program. Throughout this program she has introduced several innovative practices: themed symposium; skills workshop with sessions on EI, working with disability, mental health first aid and a privilege walk activity; reflective writing in experiential learning. An accomplishment she had made while leading this program was securing several external community grants to help fund the workshops and research into this area. Her recent research interest is in the healthcare access of the Deaf. She is a 2023 Nature award recipient for the Inclusive Health Research.