Miss-Delectable
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Fulton Sun
The mother of a student at the Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton is one of 13 Missourians who have joined the Missouri Association for the Deaf in a lawsuit against the state of Missouri claiming about 1,100 deaf Missourians who need mental health services are not receiving treatment they need.
Kenneth Chackes, a St. Louis attorney, filed the lawsuit Monday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in Jefferson City.
Chackes said the lawsuit is not in response to recent budget cuts sustained by the Missouri Department of Mental Health that has required the department to reduce mental health services throughout the state.
Previous appropriation requests by the state agency for more interpreters who use sign language to communicate with deaf mental health patients have been rejected. The lawsuit asks a federal court judge to enforce the federal American Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act to require the state of Missouri to pay for and provide additional mental health services to deaf patients.
Ella Eakins, president of the Missouri Association for the Deaf said the lawsuit came because the Missouri Department of Mental Health has ignored the association's pleas for adequate mental health treatment of deaf people.
Defendants in the suit are Keith Schaefer, director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health and Stephanie Winslow, director of the department's Office of Deaf Services. A spokesman for the Department of Mental Health says the agency does not comment on matters under litigation.
The complaint contends the state has acknowledged there are 1,100 deaf Missourians who require mental health treatment and about 20 percent of them are children.
The plaintiffs are seeking class wide relief that would require the state of Missouri to alter its policies. The plaintiffs charge that the Missouri Department of Mental Health employs or contracts with few, if any, mental health professionals who are knowledgeable about deaf culture
ture and mental illness among the deaf. The department is accused of having an insufficient number of qualified sign language interpreters who can translate for mental health professionals and deaf clients.
The group charges deaf people seeking mental health treatment are commonly misdiagnosed and do not receive appropriate treatment.
Because one of the plaintiffs is the mother of a student who contends he was raped by another student at MSD in Fulton, Chackes has asked that her name and her son's name not be disclosed to protect her son's identity.
In a statement issued through Chackes, the mother says her son, who is a student at MSD, is deaf and uses sign language as his way of communicating. She says her son also has attention deficit syndrome and is bipolar.
In 2002, the mother said, her son was sexually assaulted at school. This caused severe post traumatic stress syndrome symptoms that resulted in threats to harm himself and others.
His mother said she contacted a psychiatrist in St. Louis who was not familiar with treating deaf people. The boy's mother said she followed the recommendation of the psychiatrist to take her son to a residential facility. Within an hour, a nurse there attempted to put her son in a straight jacket to control what she called his "flailing hands."
Without the use of his hands and arms, she says her son was unable to communicate with sign language.
She said her refusal to admit her son to the facility resulted in the psychiatrist abandoning her son as his patient.
The boy's mother said she then took her son to the National Deaf Academy in Florida. He was admitted only two days after she contacted the academy. Her son remained there for several months of residential psychiatric treatment. She said everyone on the staff knew sign language and they were well versed in deaf culture. She said her son improved greatly and was able to return home.
Her son then was enrolled at MSD in Fulton to attend school. Last year she said her son was raped twice by another student at MSD. He again was diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome. His mother said she was unable to find a psychologist to work with her deaf son in St. Louis because she wants to attend treatment sessions with her son.
His mother said she finally found a psychologist in Columbia who is familiar with deaf culture and sign language. But because Columbia is more than two-hour drive from the St. Louis area, she says it is not feasible for her or her family to participate in therapy with her son.
She said her son is pulled from his classes at MSD and now has a negative stigma attached to him because his mental health services occur during school time.
"The lack of mental health services for the deaf is an atrocity. These services are crucial and desperately needed for someone like my son," she said.
The mother of a student at the Missouri School for the Deaf in Fulton is one of 13 Missourians who have joined the Missouri Association for the Deaf in a lawsuit against the state of Missouri claiming about 1,100 deaf Missourians who need mental health services are not receiving treatment they need.
Kenneth Chackes, a St. Louis attorney, filed the lawsuit Monday in the United States District Court for the Western District of Missouri in Jefferson City.
Chackes said the lawsuit is not in response to recent budget cuts sustained by the Missouri Department of Mental Health that has required the department to reduce mental health services throughout the state.
Previous appropriation requests by the state agency for more interpreters who use sign language to communicate with deaf mental health patients have been rejected. The lawsuit asks a federal court judge to enforce the federal American Disabilities Act and the federal Rehabilitation Act to require the state of Missouri to pay for and provide additional mental health services to deaf patients.
Ella Eakins, president of the Missouri Association for the Deaf said the lawsuit came because the Missouri Department of Mental Health has ignored the association's pleas for adequate mental health treatment of deaf people.
Defendants in the suit are Keith Schaefer, director of the Missouri Department of Mental Health and Stephanie Winslow, director of the department's Office of Deaf Services. A spokesman for the Department of Mental Health says the agency does not comment on matters under litigation.
The complaint contends the state has acknowledged there are 1,100 deaf Missourians who require mental health treatment and about 20 percent of them are children.
The plaintiffs are seeking class wide relief that would require the state of Missouri to alter its policies. The plaintiffs charge that the Missouri Department of Mental Health employs or contracts with few, if any, mental health professionals who are knowledgeable about deaf culture
ture and mental illness among the deaf. The department is accused of having an insufficient number of qualified sign language interpreters who can translate for mental health professionals and deaf clients.
The group charges deaf people seeking mental health treatment are commonly misdiagnosed and do not receive appropriate treatment.
Because one of the plaintiffs is the mother of a student who contends he was raped by another student at MSD in Fulton, Chackes has asked that her name and her son's name not be disclosed to protect her son's identity.
In a statement issued through Chackes, the mother says her son, who is a student at MSD, is deaf and uses sign language as his way of communicating. She says her son also has attention deficit syndrome and is bipolar.
In 2002, the mother said, her son was sexually assaulted at school. This caused severe post traumatic stress syndrome symptoms that resulted in threats to harm himself and others.
His mother said she contacted a psychiatrist in St. Louis who was not familiar with treating deaf people. The boy's mother said she followed the recommendation of the psychiatrist to take her son to a residential facility. Within an hour, a nurse there attempted to put her son in a straight jacket to control what she called his "flailing hands."
Without the use of his hands and arms, she says her son was unable to communicate with sign language.
She said her refusal to admit her son to the facility resulted in the psychiatrist abandoning her son as his patient.
The boy's mother said she then took her son to the National Deaf Academy in Florida. He was admitted only two days after she contacted the academy. Her son remained there for several months of residential psychiatric treatment. She said everyone on the staff knew sign language and they were well versed in deaf culture. She said her son improved greatly and was able to return home.
Her son then was enrolled at MSD in Fulton to attend school. Last year she said her son was raped twice by another student at MSD. He again was diagnosed with post traumatic stress syndrome. His mother said she was unable to find a psychologist to work with her deaf son in St. Louis because she wants to attend treatment sessions with her son.
His mother said she finally found a psychologist in Columbia who is familiar with deaf culture and sign language. But because Columbia is more than two-hour drive from the St. Louis area, she says it is not feasible for her or her family to participate in therapy with her son.
She said her son is pulled from his classes at MSD and now has a negative stigma attached to him because his mental health services occur during school time.
"The lack of mental health services for the deaf is an atrocity. These services are crucial and desperately needed for someone like my son," she said.
