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National Deaf Services
Mental health and Deaf people
Approximately 1 in every 1000 of the population is deaf, using "BSL", British Sign Language, as their preferred language.
Any difficulty in communication may lead to feelings of personal and social isolation with the consequential frustrations, developing into difficult and challenging behaviour.
There is no evidence to suggest that there is any greater occurrence of mental illness in the Deaf population. There is, however, a significantly greater occurrence of emotional and behavioural problems. Poor diagnosis, miscommunication and misguided treatment programmes have resulted in the gross over-representation of Deaf people in mental hospitals.
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Deaf people experiencing mental health problems need assessment and care from professionals with specialist skills, who can fluently communicate in signed languages and who understand the complexities of Deaf Culture. |
Throughout the world, deaf people have come together in their own communities and developed their own signed languages. In the UK this language is British Sign Language. |
