Diane Bass, BSN is a deaf nurse. Bass graduated with a dual bachelor’s in health science and psychology. She is currently working towards her RN license. Bass obtained leadership and child welfare certifications as well. Both have helped Bass to develop skills when working with people.

Bass acknowledges her ability of what she CAN do while not allowing deafness to limit herself. “Deafness is not a problem; the expectations of society are the problem,” said Bass. Bass believes that without each person and their unique value, society’s full potential cannot be reached. For example, deafness heightens the ability to be keen observers.

Bass noticed how innovations geared towards those with hearing loss improve the lives of hearing people, too. Bass states during her training, there was a faint heart murmur that a standard stethoscope could not detect. Bass offered her amplified stethoscope, and the heart murmur was detected. Her trainer said, “Wow, we could be most effective in our nursing assessments if we had a better tool like this.”

Bass joined the Association of Medical Professionals with Hearing Loss (AMPHL) in 2015. The AMPHL organization helped Bass improve her leadership skills and develop better ways of approaching challenges creatively at school and work.

Note: AMPHL has a conference coming up in June of 2024 in Chicago, IL; for more info, visit www.amphl.org.

As Bass’s professional career grew, she saw opportunities to represent AMPHL. Bass presented on their behalf and as a result, current and future student nurses have reached out to Bass with questions about accommodations, amplified stethoscopes, clear window masks, and for her feedback on effectively managing colleagues who are not experienced with deafness. Most recently, a young black female contacted Bass and wanted Bass to become her mentor since the student felt there are not enough Black deaf ASL users in the field. The student was relieved when she met Bass.

Bass encourages others to work at or join a developing a supportive community network. Bass moderates a Facebook nursing group because an instructor made the comment that, “There are no Deaf /Hard of hearing people in the nursing field.” The Facebook group is for those who are in the nursing field and have self-disclosed as being on the spectrum of deafness. Members are those with jobs in the nursing field ranging from Certified Nurse Assistant to Nurse Practitioner to PhD or DNP in nursing.

Bass has worked with Britny Bensman with DeafMED to do first aid and blood pressure screenings for the Deaf community. Children with deafness came to Bass and Bensman and were shocked to see them in a medical field. Bass and Bensman were able to become their role models.

For those in a comparable situation to Bass, she says, “do not accept negativity that is not based on fact. In fact, we are the proof that we can do it,” and “any seeming failure should never stop you, it only creates a new opportunity to reach the accomplishment.” We are incredibly proud to showcase Diane Bass, BSN in the Deaf Leader Series as she continues to work towards diversifying healthcare workforce to be inclusive and improve quality of healthcare for the deaf and hard of hearing communities.

For those interested in Diane’s Facebook page, you can join here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1054081404607317/

Diane can be reached at [email protected].