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Health Inequalities in the Signing Deaf Community

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Health Inequalities in the Signing Deaf Community

In the fifth of our ‘Let’s talk about…’ EDI seminar series, in partnership with Cancer Research UK Barts Centre, our researchers covered ‘Health Inequalities in the Signing Deaf Community’.

We heard from Dr Katherine Rogers a NIHR Post-Doctoral Research Fellow and Molly Redpath-Healy a Research Assistant from The University of Manchester.

Dr Katherine Rogers, NIHR Post-Doctoral Research Fellow

Katherine covered health inequalities in the signing deaf community including:

Background issues concerning deaf populations
Legislation and policies in the UK
Health inequalities and Deaf people
The main issues affecting deaf people
A systematic review of evidence concerning health in Deaf signing populations

Background on issues concerning Deaf populations

Approximately 95% of deaf children have hearing parents (Michell & Karchmer, 2004)
British Sign Language is not a visual representation of English; it’s a complete language with different grammar
There are at least 87,000 Deaf BSL users (BDA, 2016)
Sign language is not universal

Health inequalities and Deaf people

There is a higher prevalence of specific conditions such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes mellitus in Deaf populations (Barnett et al., 2011)
Deaf people are more likely to be diagnosed at late stages of cancer (Druel et al., 2018)
Deaf LGBTQ+ people are more likely to have a personal cancer history compared to non-LGBTQ+ Deaf people (Kushalnager et al., 2019)
Deaf people are more likely to have poorer mental health outcomes (RCP, 2017)

Main issues affecting Deaf people

Approximately 95% of deaf children have hearing parents (Michell & Karchmer, 2004) which leads to language deprivation
Deaf people are highly dispersed geographically
It is a problem for the NHS to meet its own Charter, which outlines a commitment to equality of service for all
There are issues with the availability of interpreters
Preventable health risks cost the NHS £30m every year (SignHealth, 2014)

A systematic review of evidence concerning health in Deaf signing populations

Katherine discussed the systematic review she is currently working on. She detailed the purpose of this review to explore both the mental and physical health of the Deaf population, including:

The prevalence of mental health conditions
Measures used in relation to mental health
Measures of physical health such as the prevalence of chronic conditions and symptom measures for physical health conditions
Measures of overall health status, quality of life and wellbeing, that may reflect mental and physical health combined

It was a pleasure to do a seminar for the CRUK Manchester Centre. Due to the health inequalities faced by Deaf people (both in accessing services, and health outcomes) I felt that it was valuable for the audience to watch/listen to the seminar about this topic, especially as it was delivered in sign language. Deaf people have often been excluded from research and little is known about the specific health outcomes for Deaf people, therefore, it is vital to highlight these issues with a wider audience. In summary, I thought the seminar was a success as there were lots of important discussions about the health inequalities during the Q&A session.

Dr Katherine Rogers

Molly Redpath-Healy, Research Assistant

Molly covered her research project funded by Macmillan Deaf Cancer Support on “Telemedicine as a treatment for Deaf people who use British Sign Language with common mental health problems”.

This ongoing project aims to test the acceptability, feasibility and preliminary efficacy of telemedicine intervention in the delivery of psychological therapy in BSL to Deaf people who are experiencing anxiety and/or depression.

Conclusions and implications

Health and mental health inequalities are more prevalent in the signing Deaf population
Using validated assessment tools in BSL can accurately assess a Deaf person’s mental and health state
Better reporting of data from the Deaf signing population is needed
The findings from the Deaf cancer evaluation study will contribute to a better understanding of the health state of Deaf patients with cancer, and the need for a specialist service for Deaf people

I thoroughly enjoyed being a part of the CRUK Manchester Centre EDI seminar. I think it is of great importance to spread awareness of health inequalities in this area, and what the current status of research represents for the Deaf community. It was especially great that the platform allowed myself to connect to a multitude of disciplines to inform them of the Deaf Cancer Support Project.

Molly Redpath-Healy

Take home messages

Deaf people are more likely to be diagnosed at late stages of cancer
Deaf LGBTQ+ people are more likely to have a personal cancer history compared to non-LGBTQ+ Deaf people
Deaf people are more likely to have poorer mental health outcomes
Health and mental health inequalities are more prevalent in the signing Deaf population
Better reporting of data from the Deaf signing population is needed