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It is stipulated that deaf citizens have equal right to use social services as other citizens. One social service is the access to make an emergency call. Deaf citizens who cannot hear and use a signed language to communicate have to make emergency calls in another way rather than relying on listening and speaking via a telephone. However, the possible ways to call are not the same for deaf citizens in all countries. This commentary shows that there are options dedicated for deaf citizens to make emergency alarms in both Norway and Sweden: via telephone typewriters, Short Message Service, and Video Relay Service, although the design of the respective options differs between the countries. However, it is argued that deaf citizens in Norway do not have equal access to make emergency alarms as other citizens in Norway, whereas the situation for deaf citizens in Sweden may be seen as equal compared to other citizens in Sweden, although there still are limitations.

The Government of Malaysia has embraced international policy guidelines relating to disability equality, including the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Its aim is to ensure that 75% of children with disabilities are included in mainstream classrooms by 2025 as part of a wider agenda to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities. Including deaf children on an equal basis in the linguistically diverse, exam-oriented Malaysian school system is an ambitious and complex task given the difficulties they face in developing effective language and communication skills. The data presented here are taken from a larger study which explored teachers', head teachers', parents', and children's experiences of inclusion through in-depth interviews in three Malaysian schools. The study design was informed by a framework developed in the UK to guide best practice of educating deaf children in mainstream schools and focused specifically on the learning environment. This article presents contrasting educational experiences of two deaf adults, and then considers the experiences of four deaf children in their government-funded primary schools. A series of inter-related dimensions of inclusion were identified-these include curricular, organisational, social, acoustic and linguistic dimensions, which impact upon children's ability to communicate and learn on an equal basis. Poor maintenance of assistive technology, insufficient teacher training and awareness, inflexibility of the education system, and limited home-school communication are some of the factors constraining efforts to promote equal participation in learning. There are promising signs, however, of teacher collaboration and the creation of more equitable and child-centred educational opportunities for deaf children.

Objective: to identify in the literature how the communication between healthcare professionals and patients with hearing disabilities occurs. Method: Integrative review. The research was based in the MEDLINE, BDENF, LILACS, and SCIELO databases through the following descriptors: communication, nursing, hearing deficiency, deafness, deaf, and nursing care. Results: The 19 articles were grouped in the following categories: communication strategies; professional training; professional relationship with the deaf, and suggestions for improving the communication between the deaf and health professionals. Conclusion: Each deaf person presents specific communicational needs, and the nurse should choose along with the deaf, the best communication strategy respecting their limitations.