Highlighting rights of deaf community when it comes to accessing mental health services

THIS week, we recognise World Mental Health Day. I should like to bring to your readers’ attention the mental health issues faced by the deaf community and to an initiative to address these issues.

Deaf people are twice as likely to experience mental health issues compared to their hearing peers. They are also more likely not to access the required support from mental health services due to barriers in communication.

Last week, the Belfast Statement on Mental Health and Deafness was launched at the mainstream eighth European Conference on Mental Health held in Belfast. The statement is an outcome of the sixth World Congress on Mental Health and Deafness held in Belfast in 2014.

It sets out the right to effective communication access in mental health settings for deaf, late deafened, hard of hearing and deaf/blind people of all ages. This right is enshrined in key international declarations, such as the UN Convention on Human Rights for Persons with Disabilities.

The statement was drawn up in consultation with deaf people and it reflects their first-hand knowledge of the issues they face in mental health provision. Mary McAleese, the former president of Ireland, in endorsing the statement, said: “The Belfast Statement is an assertion of the rights of all deaf people to be fully included in every aspect of civic life. Access to mental health and wellbeing services is their right. The Belfast Statement insists on the fullest vindication of that right. It is really time to hear the voices of deaf people.”

BRIAN SYMINGTON

European Society on Mental Health and Deafness