Therapist Refuses To Allow Me To Use TTS Or Other Speaking Aids

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To be perfectly clear, I am mute and have not been so for very long. Every week I see a family therapist with my boyfriend and an individual therapist for myself. In conjunction with seeing my individual therapist, I go to a group therapy session once a week. Today was my second week back in group therapy since the accident that took my voice. I did my homework assigned the week before and a very kind-hearted girl whom I sit next to offered to read my homework aloud to the group. We all share our homework aloud so that we can work out the kinks in our understanding of the psychiatric principles that are being taught. It is a form of therapy called Dialectical Behavioral Therapy (DBT) and can be used to treat a variety of different psychiatric issues.

The group session is nearly 3 hours long but I did not even stay for a third of that time. When it came my turn to go over my homework the group leader (a licensed therapist) skipped over me deliberately. The girl who was going to help read my homework for me tried to speak up but was cut off by the facilitator who said "we are just going to go ahead and hear from [the guy sitting next to you]" and ultimately ignored both me and the kind girl who was trying to help. I signed that I was confused by her actions but she just made mock signs back at me and whispered "I don't understand this". I don't know why she whispered since she had been briefed on the changes I've gone through before the group started and I had also, in large print, written that "I am mute but can still hear" on the giant white board in the classroom.

This was all very upsetting and, to use DBT terminology, I felt like I was being invalidated. I sent my individual therapist (who is not one of the facilitators) a text telling her that I was unhappy with what had happened and that I did not understand why events unfolded the way that they did. At first she apologized and told me that it was entirely her fault for not explaining to her colleagues about my unique situation. I thanked her but it turned out to be too soon. When I explained to her that I can definitely still participate in group by using a TTS app and a little querty-style folding portable keyboard. She told me that using such a device was "unacceptable" and that I would have to "learn how to speak again" in order to participate. I was outraged! Dialectical Behavioral Therapy is already straddling the line of being cult-like by not allowing flexibility for being physically ill (if you miss a certain amount of days of group therapy you are put on a 6 month ban), it has stringent rules about how to deal with specific situations without leaving room to improvise, doesn't allow emotional support or service animals of any kind, etcetera... I sat back and let her sit on her pedestal of authority.

I don't want to leave the group but the facilitators and my therapist telling me that I need to force myself to verbally communicate is ludicrous. I was so saddened and frustrated! Why would I *choose* to stay silent? I used to be a nearly unstoppable chatter-box. You couldn't have *paid* me to shut up back when I could talk.

The therapist's reasoning is that I need to come "out of my shell" and "learn how confront my fear of speaking". That's absolutely not it at all, though one of the contributing factors is a fear of being treated differently.

To me, despite this being a private practice, I feel like some ADA compliances and laws are definitely being broken. I'm interested in what you all have to say about this and any advice (with appropriate citations when available) that you all may have. Have any of you run into this kind of discriminatory treatment? If so, what did you do, if anything, about it? How did it work out for you? Is there someone I can contact regarding this odd and unsettling treatment?

Thank you in advance!

--Soul
 
Yes... I have - run into discriminatory treatment in general, think sadly it's fairly common. My ideas are - get a medical doctor to write a note on office stationary confirming that you are physically unable to speak due to damage from the accident <I did something like this in relation to a previous job - I have a medical, thing that causes me to have to use the bathroom a lot and drink a lot, and my doc wrote this note about it for me to take to work> , and contact an ADA attorney/public aid....you could just browse "ADA attorneys" online in the region where you are, and see if you can find someone who maybe could get a free or low-cost preliminary consult with. I also did this after a vehicle accident and some subsequent things that occurred. The meeting I had with the lawyer was a complimentary review of the situation.


I also found this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11429/, about the ADA, as well as this: http://www.bazelon.org/News-Publica...Health-and-Disability-Advocacy-Resources.aspx
 
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They are assuming that your inability to speak has a psychological origin, rather than a physical one. You need to get a letter from a medical doctor confirming the diagnosis. I am wondering why you have been routed into this kind of therapy, when work with a speech therapist would also address any psychological component to your inability to speak, if, in fact there is one. Access to your records would enlighten you if they have diagnosed you with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_disorder
 
dogmom said:
Yes... I have - run into discriminatory treatment in general, think sadly it's fairly common. My ideas are - get a medical doctor to write a note on office stationary confirming that you are physically unable to speak due to damage from the accident <I did something like this in relation to a previous job - I have a medical, thing that causes me to have to use the bathroom a lot and drink a lot, and my doc wrote this note about it for me to take to work> , and contact an ADA attorney/public aid....you could just browse "ADA attorneys" online in the region where you are, and see if you can find someone who maybe could get a free or low-cost preliminary consult with. I also did this after a vehicle accident and some subsequent things that occurred. The meeting I had with the lawyer was a complimentary review of the situation.


I also found this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK11429/, about the ADA, as well as this: http://www.bazelon.org/News-Publica...Health-and-Disability-Advocacy-Resources.aspx
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Oh wow! Those are some amazing resources! I'm looking through them now.

There was another time, around 2010, when I was kicked out of my therapy group (a different one) for being unable to get into the room where we had our meetings because I was in a wheelchair and because I had a "visible" catheter bag (read: I covered it up but one could see the bulge it made under the legwarmer I was using). The therapists told me to wear pants or get out even though all of it was completely covered, including the tube. It was entirely too hot to wear pants, the facility refused to move us to a room where there was a working air conditioner, and the only people who were complaining were the actual therapists because they were afraid that, in their words, "the sight of a catheter may upset some people and remind them of traumatic procedures they have had in the past." To which I said "so you want me to stop reminding these 'people' that some people can't walk too? Because I'm happy to stand up out of my chair and become a liability."

I'm mad.
 
MCB said:
They are assuming that your inability to speak has a psychological origin, rather than a physical one. You need to get a letter from a medical doctor confirming the diagnosis. I am wondering why you have been routed into this kind of therapy, when work with a speech therapist would also address any psychological component to your inability to speak, if, in fact there is one. Access to your records would enlighten you if they have diagnosed you with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_disorder
Click to expand...

I'm having my neighbor call my medical doctor for me today. She had a stroke at a young age (35) and is very worried about my physical health and wants me to get double checked to see that I don't show signs of some kind of brain damage.
To be fair to the therapists, the only times I have gone silent were purely psychological and only lasted a few hours. But I've been reading up on PTSD-induced mutism and even in those cases it is not correct to try to force someone to speak as it drives them further and further into their shell. I won't lie: part of this is definitely psychological because my accident involved a very horrible homeless man whom I was trying to help and it backfired on me in the worst way. Part of me is afraid to speak... but the majority of this is that I just CAN'T. I used to talk to myself aloud all the time. It was just a part of who I was. I still do talk to myself in sign but, if this were purely psychological, I don't think I'd negate doing one of my favorite activities: listening to myself ruminate lol

--Soul
 
MCB said:
They are assuming that your inability to speak has a psychological origin, rather than a physical one. You need to get a letter from a medical doctor confirming the diagnosis. I am wondering why you have been routed into this kind of therapy, when work with a speech therapist would also address any psychological component to your inability to speak, if, in fact there is one. Access to your records would enlighten you if they have diagnosed you with https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_disorder
Click to expand...
To address your question about why I'm in this particular therapy type: I've been coming to it off and on for almost two years. It was prescribed to me because I have OCD and GAD and have tried to off myself in the past. But it has been a long time since I've done any of that.
Speech therapy sounds agreeable. I will ask about that at my doctor's appointment.

--Soul
 
I nth the idea about having a medical doctor write up something. I don't know the particulars of what happened (no need to explain- traumatic enough I'm sure) but there may be some physical component too. And therapists shouldn't be pushing you to even try to talk, that goes against therapy in the first place. It needs to be done in slow steps or at least at your own pace but still some nudging by therapist... not "Do it NOW".

There is a deaf counseling group via online- I don't know if there are any in San Diego though I know there's a good sized deaf community in San Diego (one of my college friends lives there).
 
DeafDucky said:
I nth the idea about having a medical doctor write up something. I don't know the particulars of what happened (no need to explain- traumatic enough I'm sure) but there may be some physical component too. And therapists shouldn't be pushing you to even try to talk, that goes against therapy in the first place. It needs to be done in slow steps or at least at your own pace but still some nudging by therapist... not "Do it NOW".

There is a deaf counseling group via online- I don't know if there are any in San Diego though I know there's a good sized deaf community in San Diego (one of my college friends lives there).
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Would you mind too terribly much asking your college friend which deaf groups he or she prefers? I definitely don't want to be presumptuous but anything helps :wave: I'd absolutely *love* to find an awesome group of people to hang out with! Only one of my friends signs but he doesn't live very close by. Sometimes it's a real crap shoot trying to find a good group of people.

As for my therapist, I told her that she was violating ADA law by not allowing me to use an assistive device and basically telling me to sit in the corner while I watched the group like a lifeless statue. I told her that if she did not allow me to use an assistive device I would have to seek legal counsel. When I brought up legalities she got really upset and told me that she did not like being threatened with a lawsuit. I was certainly not threatening her and had only said "legal counsel" which is leagues away from being a lawsuit. Then she said that I had upset her and that she would not text me any longer even though texting is part of the service she is supposed to provide her patients. It is in her DBT rule book. Suffice to say, she severely overreacted to my plea for fair treatment. In her text to me about why she would not allow me to use an assistive device she explained:

"it may seem difficult and even 'cruel' but I don't want you to get it in your head that you are going to do this forever."

I'm just awestruck that she has a job as a counsellor. She had steered me wrong enough times that I was beginning to wonder exactly what kind of criteria one must meet to be a DBT counsellor but this? This is damning. I thanked her for her time, told her that I would no longer be working with her, and asked her to reread what she had said to me as if she was on the receiving end. I also added that I would not be paying for the day I went to group and was treated like I wasn't there. I might as well not have been there anyway.
I still feel like her reaction to my desire to seek legal counsel was way over the top. It was like I had either slapped her in the face or like she was afraid that I'd actually do it and was trying to keep me from doing it by guilting me out of it. I'm going to email a lawyer versed in ADA law and see what I should do. Maybe I can get these people into trouble for not allowing me to use my TTS aid. They also do not allow trained service animals in group, one of which I do have and could have benefitted greatly from bringing along. They set a double standard though as they do let service animals and TTS software into private sessions. Their goal is to make us not have to rely on things like service animals but that's idiotic... why would someone have a service animal unless they relied on it for something? And if someone is allergic to the animal then they could have them switch groups-- there are several groups that the person with the animal or the person with the allergy are able to choose from. As I write this I see more and more how, yet again, I've been had.

--Soul
 
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Soul- I will ask her- might take me a bit as I may forget lol.
 
Soulvei said:
Would you mind too terribly much asking your college friend which deaf groups he or she prefers? I definitely don't want to be presumptuous but anything helps :wave: I'd absolutely *love* to find an awesome group of people to hang out with! Only one of my friends signs but he doesn't live very close by. Sometimes it's a real crap shoot trying to find a good group of people.

As for my therapist, I told her that she was violating ADA law by not allowing me to use an assistive device and basically telling me to sit in the corner while I watched the group like a lifeless statue. I told her that if she did not allow me to use an assistive device I would have to seek legal counsel. When I brought up legalities she got really upset and told me that she did not like being threatened with a lawsuit. I was certainly not threatening her and had only said "legal counsel" which is leagues away from being a lawsuit. Then she said that I had upset her and that she would not text me any longer even though texting is part of the service she is supposed to provide her patients. It is in her DBT rule book. Suffice to say, she severely overreacted to my plea for fair treatment. In her text to me about why she would not allow me to use an assistive device she explained:

"it may seem difficult and even 'cruel' but I don't want you to get it in your head that you are going to do this forever."

I'm just awestruck that she has a job as a counsellor. She had steered me wrong enough times that I was beginning to wonder exactly what kind of criteria one must meet to be a DBT counsellor but this? This is damning. I thanked her for her time, told her that I would no longer be working with her, and asked her to reread what she had said to me as if she was on the receiving end. I also added that I would not be paying for the day I went to group and was treated like I wasn't there. I might as well not have been there anyway.
I still feel like her reaction to my desire to seek legal counsel was way over the top. It was like I had either slapped her in the face or like she was afraid that I'd actually do it and was trying to keep me from doing it by guilting me out of it. I'm going to email a lawyer versed in ADA law and see what I should do. Maybe I can get these people into trouble for not allowing me to use my TTS aid. They also do not allow trained service animals in group, one of which I do have and could have benefitted greatly from bringing along. They set a double standard though as they do let service animals and TTS software into private sessions. Their goal is to make us not have to rely on things like service animals but that's idiotic... why would someone have a service animal unless they relied on it for something? And if someone is allergic to the animal then they could have them switch groups-- there are several groups that the person with the animal or the person with the allergy are able to choose from. As I write this I see more and more how, yet again, I've been had.

--Soul
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Oh, you should not let her know about legal counsel. Most of the times, people seek legal counsel without telling them. If a lawyer will take your case, that's going between the lawyer and her.
 
Soulvei said:
Would you mind too terribly much asking your college friend which dsign ver eaf groups he orlawyers efers? I definitely dthe thon't want to be index a recame acrotuous but anytcenhappened hetury bhing helps :wave: I'd absinvolvement ove* to find an awesome group of people to hang out with! Only one of my friends signs but he doesn't live very close by. Sometimes it's a real crap shoot trying to find a good group of people.

As for my therapist, I told her that she was violating ADA law by not allowing me to use an assistive device and basically telling me to sit in the corner while I watched the group like a lifeless statue. I told her that if she did not allow me to use an assistive device I would have to seek legal counsel. When I brought up legalities she got really upset and told me that she did not like being threatened with a lawsuit. I was certainly not threatening her and had only said "legal counsel" which is leagues away from being a lawsuit. Then she said that I had upset her and that she would not text me any longer even though texting is part of the service she is supposed to provide her patients. It is in her DBT rule book. Suffice to say, she severely overreacted to my plea for fair treatment. In her text to me about why she would not allow me to use an assistive device she explained:

"it may seem difficult and even 'cruel' but I don't want you to get it in your head that you are going to do this forever."

I'm just awestruck that she has a job as a counsellor. She had steered me wrong enough times that I was beginning to wonder exactly what kind of criteria one must meet to be a DBT counsellor but this? This is damning. I thanked her for her time, told her that I would no longer be working with her, and asked her to reread what she had said to me as if she was on the receiving end. I also added that I would not be paying for the day I went to group and was treated like I wasn't there. I might as well not have been there anyway.
I still feel like her reaction to my desire to seek legal counsel was way over the top. It was like I had either slapped her in the face or like she was afraid that I'd actually do it and was trying to keep me from doing it by guilting me out of it. I'm going to email a lawyer versed in ADA law and see what I should do. Maybe I can get these people into trouble for not allowing me to use my TTS aid. They also do not allow trained service animals in group, one of which I do have and could have benefitted greatly from bringing along. They set a double standard though as they do let service animals and TTS software into private sessions. Their goal is to make us not have to rely on things like service animals but that's idiotic... why would someone have a service animal unless they relied on it for something? And if someone is allergic to the animal then they could have them switch groups-- there are several groups that the person with the animal or the person with the allergy are able to choose from. As I write this I see more and more how, yet again, I've been had.

--Soul
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If not speaking is not affecting your life in a negative way. And its what you desire. Then why seek treatment to resolve it?

therapists of all stripes. Doctors or otherwise use a methodology whithin a paradigm that they have trained in. What ever that maybe.

Regarding the therapist here. I understand why she felt or came across as she did re the threat of aquiring legal action via the involvment of a lawyer.

No one likes that.
Certainly not from someone whom they are trying to treat

If your paying for her service and you are unhappy with it the best option is to seek and find a service that you prefer or meets your needs rather then try by legal means to force her to change her treatment what ever the paradigm or model she uses Maybe

The involvment of laywers in this case in my eyes wont get you the desired results you may be looking for
if anythying
more issues will arise.

In any treatment or therapy patience is indeed something to practice.

You are seeking her help for a reason
let her do what she is trained to do.

If that training in her paradigm and her methodology is found wanting again seek a different paradigm and method via a different therapist

But
if you do not desire or are unable to speak. And your fine wih that
Learn and become fluent in sign.
in my eyes its really that simple
Sign
will
set
you
free
 
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I was going to kind of suggest that myself, to find a different therapist who works in a manner that suits you. I understand you are dealing with a unique set of circumstances so I don't know how easy finding a new therapist will be. I had a therapist for a while, and I went through a bunch of them until I found one I liked best. Mine were individual sessions, though. I don't see him or anyone else anymore but it was nice to have that outlet for a while.
 
The idea of finding a therapist that may best fit her unique needs may be harder than most. Some areas of the US (or whatever country) may not have the specific needs or services and would have to travel more than an hour to find it. She may be "stuck" with what she has unfortunately.

Still not a bad idea to look and research if she hasn't already and is why she is where she is. Insurance if they are paying are also picky (stupid imho).
 
DeafDucky said:
The idea of finding a therapist that may best fit her unique needs may be harder than most. Some areas of the US (or whatever country) may not have the specific needs or services and would have to travel more than an hour to find it. She may be "stuck" with what she has unfortunately.

Still not a bad idea to look and research if she hasn't already and is why she is where she is. Insurance if they are paying are also picky (stupid imho).
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That's why I was saying that I don't know how easy finding a new therapist will be. I hope she has some avenues.

Insurance didn't pay any of mine. I paid it all out-of-pocket.
 
yeah, insurance either doesn't pay for it or they put a severe restriction on how many visits you get per year (6 I think in many plans...).
 
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