Deaf Family Member at Hospital
26 02 2007Grant Laird Jr discussed his experience about one of his deaf family member with depression as well as at mental hospital about 10 years ago. It’s been rather difficult dealing with interpreter issue, Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and CODA counselor.
It’s about six minutes long. Hope you will enjoy this vlog and maybe share your experience with us too!
Note: Vlog created on 2/15/07 but did not post it till today.
My experience cannot compare with your’s, however something happened a few years ago that upset me.
Just ONCE, I saw fit to see a mental health counselor that is connected with my health insurance program. I had an interpreter, he did a good job, everything went well.
However about a year later I ran into this same interpreter but in a social setting and he came over and asked me “how everything turned out”. I thought this was highly inappropriate and I hope he noticed my discomfort!
Grant,
Thank you for taking the time to share about your family’s experience in dealing with the lack of accessible services from a psychiatric hospital. I am sorry that you had to experience that. There is nothing worse than trying to get help and finding yourself oppressed and treated without much respect.
Sadly, although things have improved in some places, there are still many psychiatric hospitals in the US that continue to be inaccessible for Deaf patients. I am hopeful that as the number of Deaf professionals in the mental health field increases, so will their presence in such hospitals lead to positive changes for Deaf people who may need psychiatric treatment one day.
Candace
Am I wrong? I heard many years ago that St. Elizabeth in DC was the “place to go” for the hearing impaired who are in need of mental evaluation. I am curious about this. Anyone know?