raising deaf awareness in psychology and counseling!!!

Kal-El

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i everyone, sorry to post this again but i really was hoping for a better response :(

i have a hoh friend and she got me really interested in Australian Sign Language (auslan)(yup, im in aussie atm) iv taken a short auslan class at uni and it was really intersting, but im planning on taking a complete course some time next year once iv settled into university life...

iv also been very interested in psychology and helping people is a very important part of my life... so about 2 years ago i had the epiphany of bringing both worlds together.. i realized that there arent many services that help hoh and deaf people out with regards to professional counceling and psychotherapy, so i thought to myself "how awesome would it be to become a psychologist and learn auslan to help a new part of the society..

i never had the actual motivation to investigate it more than that thought, but this year (first year of psychology major) one of my subjects is granting me the opertunity to research this interest of mine and present it to a larger audience, to raise deaf awareness among the psychological society. its a godsend i cant afford to miss!!! and i have gone many sleepless nights so far because i am so excited about the prospect of spreading the word! how incredible would it be for more people to be aware of deaf culture and participate in it!!

my only problem though, is that i have no idea where to look for data! who do i talk to? where can i get facts and figures from? what kind of arguments can i use to strengthen my points so that my audience NEVER forgets what i said!!

i dont just want a pass in this subject... hell i dont care if i fail!! as long as people hear what i have to say! thanx for hearing me out and any kind of information would be so much appreciated guys!
 
You'll discover if you work with the HOH and Deaf and Psychology that it aint' at all as grand as you think it is. The Mental Health Institute has this thing with the Deaf and HOH people and make it some kind of corporate conglomerate.

For one example, in Toronto the Connect Services at the Cdn. Hearing Society usually tell people about certain drugs if their slightly stressed, and over 40 drugs cause noise sensitivity, doctors know this. All SSRI's cause horrendous side effects, including migraines, researchers know this.

Now the Connect Services and the Bob Rumball Center of the deaf place all the HOH and Deaf people who go to them for social housing aren't told that they have to be first labelled with a mental illness, then when the papers are signed and such after interviews which is their procedure that's done over and over again, and it's pretty ironic isn't it??

The building units these people go into make them ill, but nobody listens because they're labelled with such and such to their okay, and then their families are told they have a ... when they actually don't, and that causes more problems, and then the Psy.... blame them but their families who have a difficult time with them can't at all be the problem.

Since this has happend to me, my family has been talking down to me like I'am a child who doesn't know the English language, and I'am still working on that because for nine months when I tried to say something I had dishes broken near my foot, I was being called a Bitch.....but according to this Psy....I have the problem, and I don't even see her anymore and she will not apologize to me.

Meanwhile a girl in a group I'am in, her mother works in HR for CHS, and is very aware how sick those people always get, from the buildings. And it's funded by Health Canada, Connect Services aren't allowed to say anything, they follow certain procedures.

As far as I know the deaf for eons have been trying to dissociate Deafness and HOH with mental illness, yet these agenices love to mix the two together, and most of the time there is absolutely NO scientific reason why, and even when those people work with energy medicine and sound therapy they can't mention any of that and still just follow their procedures for which they are paid for. It's all bunk. Go into scientology instead!
 
i didnt understand that 100%, but i think i got the general gist of it,

but see thats what im trying to get rid of... psychologists are just people with a few years of study under their belts, but they still have judgements and prejudices and misconceptions about deaf people. what im trying to do is to get these psychologists, and before they finish their degrees, to get them to study about deaf society and deaf culture, get them to learn Sign Language, get them to realize that being deaf doesnt mean that ur disabled or mentally ill...

i want to teach psychologists that if a deaf patient comes to them with skitzophrenia, they will be able to help the patient DIRECTLY, without the use of an interpreter, and without having this preconcieved idea that its beacuse they are deaf! i want to teach these psychologists to be able to one day talk to deaf patients and treat them/give them the same options as hearing people. and not think "oh, he's deaf, maybe i shouldnt tell him about this option he can take".

i want to teach psychologists that deaf people are just that! People! there are skytsophrenic deaf people, gay deaf people, paraplegic deaf people, adopted deaf children, depressed deaf teenagers, widowed deaf women, divorced deaf couples!!! i want to tell them all about it so they realize for themselves that its just another part of society!
 
But its been researched that deaf people tend to have more mental ilnesses due to the lack of socalisation. Not saying to the extremes, but it does happen for varying reasons. Such as a deaf person will often find it hard to get a job where others can just hop up and get one like it is nothing, then we et berated for not working. Thing is we want to work and we want to be productive but when society keeps nailing us down because they sadly equate deaf with dumb, they are less likely to hire us, things go bad then we end up frustrated and with more on our plate than we can safely handle then before you know it we're on WellbutrinXL

As for HealthCanada, thats sad as Canadas healthcare systems problems are slowly but surely becoming exposed, I think its time Canadians stand up for themselves and start privatizing their system where its better, more effective, and people have a choice, and even on the healthcare provider end it is better since pay gets better with private hospitals.

Dixie
 
Dixie, im with u on that.. people are ignorant, and dont realize that thats what deaf people want, it was, on some basic level, the same with african americans. but what im saying is to allow psychologists to understand this, and not have the stereotypical prejudices the rest of society has, so that when a patient does come into his/her office saying they are depressed because they cant get a job, the counselor can just sign back to them rather than talk to them through an interpreter, and give them the same options that are available (and oh-so taken for granted) to hearing people.

p.s. please re-read the end of my last post, i edited it...
 
I get what you want to change, but the thing is you can't change the system.

That Psychologist I saw what also a licensed Practitioner of the Emtional Freedom Technique and a Practitioner with Dr. Sha of Power Healing and Qigong, who mastered I think in mental illness, it's not the pshycoloists that are at fault usually, it's the system they have to abide by and they won't be truthfull with you as a patient about the irony in the system, but if you know someone at the top of the company you will find out all of it is bunk!

I will never not ever trust anyone in that agency ever again even if my life depended on it, they just labell people without seeing the science behind the real problems which are usually nutritional, and doctor's also know that, but doctor's do have structures within the system they have to follow.

That's why I'am turning to Scientology, because the Psy.... crap is just all bunk and faulty, the system is designed to fail because none if it is true!

If you go into this direction, you will be fighting the system and you can't win.

Go into being a life coach instead! There's not any groups for the Deaf to attend Abraham Hicks conferences, for example go to the url: thevitalyou.com, see what she does and try and transfer that for the Deaf population, that's what the Deaf people need.

The Deaf and HOH people need to be taught about empowerment and communication skills, and not being stamped on by psychologists who mislabel them! Psychologists cannot help them at all, being the system doesnt's work, and the people can only change things for themselves they have to do the work, and it doesn't help when the system's set up to help them can't and won't and only deter them.
 
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Kal-El said:
iv also been very interested in psychology and helping people is a very important part of my life... !


Yes, me too. I'm very interesting in psychology and focus children's feeling and also people's background as well... I read psychology awful alot...
 
I have friend who's trying to finish her degree in childhood psychology - my hats off to her as there is no way I could possibly deal with having to listen to childrens horror sotries of family members molesting them, and having to pick apart their imaginations to get to the source of the problem. Its interesting for a little while, but day in, day out, no I could not handle the profession. Id rather be running the ped code than to have to be the therapist listening to them describe their homelife about dad drinking and mom and dad being divorced.
 
wow, your friend is very courageous and i wish her all the best!!! it is very hard to listen to other people's problems and not be affected by them, but you are right, with children its much more tormenting... i cant stand to be around children as it is because the second i see a kid laugh or talk my heart breaks that some day they are going to have to be adults and lose their innocence and deal with everyday problems... and i dunno... thats just me, i love kids way too much to work with them.

so i really do congratulate your friend on her career path!

going back to my original post though, my assignment is due on friday, and the presentation of it to the class and lecturer is in the following 2 weeks, so if anyone would like to read what i have come up with (and i have had a request or two), please feel free to pm me about it! thank you.

also any information that may help would be greatly appreciated too!
 
Psychology to the deaf community has meant unneccessary lockups. And the deaf communities have never been friends with the psychology communities. There's been countless stories of psychologists locking deaf people up in institutions for no reasons.

I dont see much help going to you in this area of discussions as the deaf community is still angry at the psychology community.

Richard
 
Nesmuth said:
Psychology to the deaf community has meant unneccessary lockups. And the deaf communities have never been friends with the psychology communities. There's been countless stories of psychologists locking deaf people up in institutions for no reasons.

I dont see much help going to you in this area of discussions as the deaf community is still angry at the psychology community.

Richard


:eek3: Why?

Psychology are everywhere here in Germany... We are very interesting to focus psychology because it can help people to cure their problems. I find sad that there´re no psychology for deaf community... Here in Germany yes.
 
im afraid ur all missing my point...

Nesmuth, thats what im trying to get rid off... im trying to get the psychological community to get rid of their prejudices (just like alot of psychologists get rid of their prejudices before they see certain patients, e.g. a narcistic patient!) and treat the deaf just as they would hearing people! without interpreters, and without thinking to themselves "o wait, maybe i cant tell them about this option because they wont be able to use it" and so on and so forth.

i do know that psychologists who have been sought out to help deaf people may have caused more harm than good, and im trying not only trying to get rid of that, but open up new options to deaf people and psychologists alike...

the thing that the deaf community also has to realize is that "most" psychologists are people who have entered that proffession for the sole purpose of helping others! and i do know that the first thing that comes to mind is to say "the psychological community has done nothing but hurt us" (And i must say now that i can relate to that because i have been personally hurt by a few shrinks who havent really understood what i was trying to get across, even though i am hearing!) but we still do need to approach both sides with caution and open-mindedness...
 
Liebling:-))) said:
I think this link explains better.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychology

It helps to focus people´s mind and soul. It´s my hobby to focus where the problems come from... focus more until I find out then able to help them to feel good.
Does that mean that people trust psychologists instead of God to help them? That is so sad.
 
I dont trust neither shrink nor God to help- I only trust myself to help me through my troubles as only I understands me.
 
Reba said:
Does that mean that people trust psychologists instead of God to help them? That is so sad.


:confused: How could God help people?

What the God do with psychology?

Do you mean that you pray God all the time to help people?

Do you mean that you follow what the bible says without focus to understand how humans feeling and why their behavior from?

I am not doing what the bible says but learn to understand about ME and my children, of course anyone who have problems.

God is not there for us but focus our life ourselves and family. I would not ignore humans feeling and problems... I´m here to help to resolve their problem and make them feel good and learn to understand where we come from.
 
I do not know which part of Australia do you live in at the moment, well I am going to sent you a PM with a profoundly deaf Melbourian lady's email address, she is a certified Psychology/Counsellor/Mental Health worker and hopes it will help you better
:)
Good luck
 
Reba said:
Does that mean that people trust psychologists instead of God to help them? That is so sad.

I was always under the impression that G-d was to be an aide in our lives, helping guide us in the right direction. I don't think that we can depend entirely on G-d for everything. At some point G-d says, "Okay, I've shown you your options. Now it's up to you," and we have to figure out which path to choose.

As for the psychology aspect of this, Kal-El, I think what you're doing is really awesome. :thumb:
 
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