Medical Spaces Are Not Places for Children to Interpret

Sometimes I think about how different medical spaces feel for children.

Adults arrive with questions.

Concerns.

Decisions to make.

Children often arrive needing reassurance.

As a Deaf parent, I have spent time reflecting on what it might feel like when a child becomes part of conversations that were never meant to rest on their shoulders.

Medical appointments can carry uncertainty.

They can carry worry.

They can carry information that is difficult even for adults to process.

A child may want to help.

A child may try to support the people they love.

Both things can be true.

But some moments ask too much of a child.

Not only communication.

Emotion.

Responsibility.

Information they may not fully understand, yet still carry with them.

The appointment eventually ends.

What stays with me is the belief that children deserve to experience medical spaces as children, not as interpreters.

Medical spaces are not places for children to interpret.

This reflection comes from my perspective as a Deaf parent, shaped by my family, my experiences, and the CODA voices I have listened to over time.