Deaf and Hearing Workers in Mental Health Work with Deaf and Hearing Clients

In the introduction of this paper we mentioned we would like to present some of the positive aspects of deaf and hearing professionals working together, some of the difficulties that arise and issues relating to interpreting in such situations. Looking at the comments made by us, it appears we both agree it should be seen that deaf and hearing professionals work together, work co-operatively and work in such a way to bring their respective skills and abilities to address the needs of clients and their families.

Davison suggested there were assumptions made as to why he should act as Chair for these meetings. He suggests that one of the reasons may be he was a hearing professional present and therefore his adopting this role was not questioned. It is interesting to note Ridgeway’s comment that on this occasion the real issue of power imbalance may not have been related to deaf or hearing issues but related to Davison’s job tittle!

From our perspectives the need to use a sign language interpreter was the most significant difficulty in these situations. Davison, personally felt this greatly inhibited the possibility of spontaneous interaction and that subtler nuances of language were lost in the interpretation. This can be resolved with deaf and hearing professionals working together whith deaf people and their families without the use of an interpreter. Appropriate planning prior to the meetings and de-briefing after each session, to look at the issues brought up, the perspectives of the respective individuals and how these could be worked out together in the future. These are of paramount importance.