Please introduce yourself in a couple of sentences.
My name is Robert Stratton, I’m 25 years old, and I’m deaf in my left ear so I’ve been signing for 10 years. Music is one of my favorite types of art, so I practice ASL through interpreting music.
What specialty are you pursuing and what year are you in?
I’m a 2nd year Physical Therapy Student.
Why did you choose this specialty?
Physical Therapy is an avenue of healing that can have such a great impact on other influences on quality of life. The Deaf community has a longer bridge to cross for quality healthcare than most, and I want to shorten it by contributing to the efforts of making healthcare accessible to people with hearing loss by being a Physical Therapist fluent in ASL. I’m not fluent yet, but it’s a process that looks different every day. During my classes, I often seek interpretation of how to sign what I’m hearing and learning. This is in hopes that repetition will contribute to fluency in the future.
Where are you from and where did you go to medical/undergraduate school?
I grew up in Ojai, California and commuted to CSU Channel Islands, go dolphins!
What are your research interests?
Inequity of healthcare in the Deaf community.
What are your plans after completing your current program?
Work in a setting where I can reach the Deaf community.
What do you like to do in your spare time?
Referee college volleyball, coach boys club volleyball, and write postcards.
Is there anything else you’d like to share?
Just learn the alphabet. By learning the alphabet, you can be prepared to communicate with a Deaf person. You don’t know when you will need it, but most hearing people have an experience where they struggled to communicate with someone with hearing loss. By learning the alphabet, you can help someone else not feel like a stranger.