Recordings from the 2025 Annual Conference-Jazzing Up The Awareness Of Sensory Impairment

Video Transcription

Video Summary

The speaker emphasizes that diabetes and related vascular or nerve damage can affect far more than the hands and feet. Neuropathy may impair vision, hearing, balance, digestion, strength, and mobility, often without being formally recognized. These hidden difficulties can contribute to falls, missed appointments, medication confusion, and repeated hospital visits.<br /><br />Rather than assuming patients are unwilling or noncompliant, clinicians should consider how they perceive and manage the world, and ask what barriers may be getting in the way. Brief conversations and screenings can reveal sensory or functional problems. The speaker encourages collaboration with physical and occupational therapy, audiology, eye care, wound care, social work, and other specialists.<br /><br />Practical supports—such as phone magnifiers, hearing-amplifier apps, brighter lighting, mobility aids, and help accessing glasses or hearing care—can make a meaningful difference. The central message is to look beyond diagnoses, recognize patients’ individual circumstances, and respond with curiosity, kindness, and support.

Keywords

diabetes complications

neuropathy

sensory impairment

functional limitations

patient barriers

falls prevention

multidisciplinary care