The Rebuttal

Let’s start with a depressing stat:

 “Kvam et al., 2007 demonstrated that 33.8% of deaf individuals had either depression or anxiety versus only 6.8% for hearing individuals.“

That’s pretty revealing, isn’t it? And more than a little bit depressing. I’ve been thinking about this in the last couple of days, ever since my friend Paul posted on Linkedin about unmet need in mental health in Australia. Said Paul,

“….three out of every four people with severe and persistent mental health concerns can’t get the services they need to stay well in the community. This is human rights issue, not a political one – and it is unacceptable! “

Paul is talking about the general populace. That’s three out of four people with ongoing mental health issues that cannot get the services that they need. We have a situation where the prevalence of mental health issues in Deaf and HoH population is so much higher than for the general population. Imagine how hard it is for people who are Deaf/HoH to get the support that they need. I can tell you, it’s almost non-existent, but more on that later.

I am a person that has lived with anxiety and depression for many years. This has its roots going back to when I lost my hearing back when I was eight or nine years old. I well remember my horror at having to wear hearing aids. I remember my absolute loathing of feeling and being different. That is a lot of shit for an 8 or 9 year old to deal with,

As a kid I used to get up in front of the school assembly and announce the scores of my soccer team on the weekend. “On Saderday Pararills (Para Hills) West Under 8s beat Tea Tree Gully Under 8s 6 nil, I scored five and Peter Batts scored 1” It was my brag moment.

As I lost my hearing, I developed a deaf accent too. I also couldn’t control my volume very well; a problem I still have to this day. One day I got up to announce the scores and that I’d scored three. I looked out at the assembly and all the children, including fair few teachers, were laughing. I had no idea why, but I know I was mortified.

I now know that I was probably shouting and that my deaf accent was probably obvious but that is no consolation. The incident had a profound effect on me. I never again got up to speak in front of the school. I became withdrawn and shy. I avoided having to communicate and speak as much as possible. I was always looking over my shoulder fearing friends were laughing at me and that I could not hear them. These awful childhood experiences stay with you right through to adulthood.

As an adult I have lived with depression and anxiety. Usually, my depression is triggered by a work-place incident. One place I worked at, I absolutely loathed. Every week they would have morning teas where everyone mingled and talked. I never had interpreters for these. I would try to avoid them. They caused me immense anxiety.

More than once, I was hauled into the boss’s office and told I wasn’t making an effort to be part of the team. I was told to try harder, and not to use my deafness as an excuse. Yeah, let that sink in.

There was one job where I started work as a Team Leader. First day on the job. big boss comes in starts making announcements in the middle of the floor. Of course, as team Leader I am expected to ensure whatever action was to happen from the announcement was implemented. Problem was that I had no idea.

It wasn’t that my employer wouldn’t provide interpreters, it was just that impromptu announcements were not something that I could access. I raised it with my boss to see if we could find a way around it. Her response? “It’s just how things work around here, find a way or perhaps the job is not right for you.” No, I am not exaggerating.

Then there was this awful time when I was learning a new reporting software. No interpreters were available. The boss had to be patient and modify her communication. This is all before automatic captioning. Ten minutes into the session the boss decided that I was a hinderance to progress and says, “.OH! Don’t worry about this, go back to your desk and do some other work.” Talk about being infantalised.

Incidents like this build up and over time your resilience and ability to deal with it on a daily basis breaks down. Your anxiety increases ten-fold. Depression sneaks up on you to the point where you wake up in the morning and do not want to go to work. You find yourself crying for no reason. You wake up and the first thing you do is cry at the thought of having to go to a workplace that makes you incredibly unhappy.

You need help. Where do you go? In 2014 it got to a point where I was so depressed that I was going to get in the car and just drive and not come back. The urge was really strong. I remember I called Lifeline through the NRS. The person at the other end was great. I told them what I was planning to do. They told me to tell my wife, give my car keys to her and go straight to hospital.

At the hospital my wife, who is deaf, was my interpreter because the hospital wouldn’t organise one. They organised home care for me where the psychiatrist visited with the mental health team. They promised to organise an interpreter for the home assessment, they never did. Again, the responsibility to interpret fell on my poor wife. The mental health nurse visited twice a week, never with an interpreter. Talk about making a bad situation worse.

And this brings me back to my friend Paul and his claim that 3 out of four people experiencing ongoing mental health issues cannot get the services that they require. Well, let me tell you, if you are Deaf/HoH and you find yourself at entry point of the mental health services at most places in Australia, at emergency and needing help – Your access to appropriate support is zero, zilch, nothing! And then for your ongoing mental health support needs, again your access to appropriate services is zero, zilch, nothing!

I know Deaf Victoria have been campaigning for many years for better Mental Health Services for people who are Deaf without a lot of commitment to actual development of such services from the Victorian Government. I know that Queensland has the Deafness and Mental Health Statewide Consultation and Liaison Service. There are some private psychologists with experience in Deafness. But mostly around Australia there is nothing.

Given that the incidence of mental health among people who are Deaf/HoH is so high, there is an urgent and ongoing need for specialist mental health support for people who are Deaf/HoH across Australia. Sadly, there is next to nothing and as my friend Paul said of the lack of support generally for people experiencing ongoing mental health issues – It is unacceptable.