Advocates for deaf sue state over mental health care
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/laworder/story/B73DB7CC3B3BC0B48625771200037C73?OpenDocument
After Sheri Cerame's son was assaulted, suffered post-traumatic stress disorder and became a potential threat to himself and others, his parents followed a psychiatrist's advice and took him to a residential mental health facility.
Within an hour, they said, a nurse tried to strap on a straitjacket because of the "flailing hands" of the then-preteen boy, who is deaf and cannot speak.
That flailing — Cerame's son's attempt to communicate by using sign language — is emblematic of a systemic statewide problem in Missouri, advocates for the deaf said Monday after filing a lawsuit aimed at fixing it.
Born of what they say are two decades of frustration, the Missouri Association of the Deaf and 13 deaf residents filed the suit in U.S. District Court in Jefferson City against the Department of Mental Health. It seeks to represent the estimated 1,100 deaf Missourians in need of some sort of mental health care, roughly 20 percent of whom are children.
The suit alleges that the state has violated the Americans with Disabilities Act and the Rehabilitation Act by failing to provide the deaf with mental health services equal to those enjoyed by others.
A spokesman for the Department of Mental Health declined to comment Monday on the suit.
During a news conference Monday in St. Louis, plaintiffs' lawyer Ken Chackes called it a "health crisis."
Signing through an interpreter, Ella Eakins, the association president, claimed that inadequate care has resulted in three recent suicides in the St. Louis area. She did not elaborate.
Eakins said that the department is not helping the deaf and is wasting money on interpreters instead of spending it to find therapists and counselors fluent in American Sign Language.
"We've just decided it's enough," she signed.
The filing asks the court for an immediate mental health evaluation for two deaf people confined in institutions — one in a nursing home and one in a state psychiatric hospital — who it says might be released if given proper treatment.
It also asks a judge to order immediate treatment or evaluation for two plaintiffs who may harm themselves or others.
Advocates say the system is plagued by a shortage of mental health workers fluent in sign language or translators qualified to work with the deaf, who may have significant speech problems as well.
The suit alleges that deaf persons are prescribed medications without being told, through a qualified interpreter, what they are being given, and confined in institutions without staff who can sign or access to interpreters.
The deaf are forced to endure long waits for treatment while a translator is located, and sit out group therapy and even Narcotics Anonymous or Alcoholics Anonymous sessions because an interpreter is not provided, according to the lawsuit and advocates.
Through an interpreter at the news conference, Christine Comas, 36, spoke of her inability to get help for her depression while in a state facility, and a six-month wait, so far, for a counselor once she was released.
"I feel as though I've been ignored," she signed.
Cerame, of Florissant, said her son, now 18, eventually went to Florida for treatment but was assaulted again last year and has to travel all the way to Columbia, Mo., for treatment.
Ann Marie and Greg Forbes, who live in southwest Missouri, said they could not find a counselor.
"We want deaf mental health services that work, services by people who understand deaf culture," Ann Marie Forbes signed.
In the department's 2011 budget, "services for special populations such as persons who are deaf with mental health problems," is listed as sixth of 13 priorities.
And in a recent memo regarding that budget, the department acknowledged that "DMH's services are often 'one size fits all' and this is particularly problematic for special populations, such as persons who are deaf or hard of hearing with mental health problems. DMH must continue its efforts to specialize services for these populations."
