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http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/local/13452726.htm
The Johnson County Mental Health Center sees many deaf individuals seeking help with daily living.
Most, however, are not mentally ill.
They come simply because Johnson County has the only mental health center in Kansas with a deaf program, where clients can communicate with someone fluent in sign language. Their difficulties can be as routine as managing budgets and waking up on time.
“Most people just struggle with the social environment, education and common sense,” said Suzanne Dennis, who oversees the mental health center’s deaf unit.
But when the agency has tried to make referrals to independent living centers, deaf individuals encountered communication barriers. If no one knew sign language, the client was out of luck.
On Tuesday, advocates for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals asked Kansas lawmakers to minimize such problems.
Leonard Hall, president of the Kansas Association of the Deaf, said the state could help by allocating money for independent living specialists who are fluent in sign language. He made the plea to state Sen. Karin Brownlee and Rep. Arlen Siegfreid at the county mental health center in Olathe.
Both lawmakers are from Olathe, which is home to the Kansas State School for the Deaf. The presence of the school draws many deaf individuals to the Olathe area.
Hall asked the legislators to lobby for $150,000 to hire four independent living specialists to serve people with hearing impairments at four locations in Johnson, Wyandotte and Sedgwick counties. Each would be paid roughly $30,000, with the remaining $30,000 for benefits.
Funding for sign language interpreters would be needed as well, Hall said. Low-income people would need assistive technology such as smoke detectors with lights and text telephones.
Bonnie Goben is an independent living specialist who is deaf.
Most deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals come in for help with communication, she said through an interpreter. “They’re just language challenged.”
They often are capable of driving and taking care of themselves and they are fluent in sign language. But if they receive a letter in the mail, they wouldn’t understand it because they had not learned to read and write English.
Her services include counseling, career help and applying for food stamps, but her clientele is not limited to people with hearing impairments.
David Wiebe, executive director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, said his agency receives $50,000 in state funding to serve deaf clients with mental health needs. But that money is not for independent living services.
Independent-living funds were available in the 1980s, said Rebecca Rosenthal, executive director of the Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. That funding has stopped, however, and the commission has identified communications barriers as the greatest hurdle.
The Johnson County Mental Health Center sees many deaf individuals seeking help with daily living.
Most, however, are not mentally ill.
They come simply because Johnson County has the only mental health center in Kansas with a deaf program, where clients can communicate with someone fluent in sign language. Their difficulties can be as routine as managing budgets and waking up on time.
“Most people just struggle with the social environment, education and common sense,” said Suzanne Dennis, who oversees the mental health center’s deaf unit.
But when the agency has tried to make referrals to independent living centers, deaf individuals encountered communication barriers. If no one knew sign language, the client was out of luck.
On Tuesday, advocates for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals asked Kansas lawmakers to minimize such problems.
Leonard Hall, president of the Kansas Association of the Deaf, said the state could help by allocating money for independent living specialists who are fluent in sign language. He made the plea to state Sen. Karin Brownlee and Rep. Arlen Siegfreid at the county mental health center in Olathe.
Both lawmakers are from Olathe, which is home to the Kansas State School for the Deaf. The presence of the school draws many deaf individuals to the Olathe area.
Hall asked the legislators to lobby for $150,000 to hire four independent living specialists to serve people with hearing impairments at four locations in Johnson, Wyandotte and Sedgwick counties. Each would be paid roughly $30,000, with the remaining $30,000 for benefits.
Funding for sign language interpreters would be needed as well, Hall said. Low-income people would need assistive technology such as smoke detectors with lights and text telephones.
Bonnie Goben is an independent living specialist who is deaf.
Most deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals come in for help with communication, she said through an interpreter. “They’re just language challenged.”
They often are capable of driving and taking care of themselves and they are fluent in sign language. But if they receive a letter in the mail, they wouldn’t understand it because they had not learned to read and write English.
Her services include counseling, career help and applying for food stamps, but her clientele is not limited to people with hearing impairments.
David Wiebe, executive director of the Johnson County Mental Health Center, said his agency receives $50,000 in state funding to serve deaf clients with mental health needs. But that money is not for independent living services.
Independent-living funds were available in the 1980s, said Rebecca Rosenthal, executive director of the Kansas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. That funding has stopped, however, and the commission has identified communications barriers as the greatest hurdle.