Deaf worker voices concerns

Deaf people are often seen but not heard by the social care
sector, deaf social worker Wendy Trent told service users and
practitioners.

Trent, who spoke through an interpreter, said that deaf issues
were all too often peripheral to social care planning and deaf
people’s rights to services tended to be ignored.

“The important thing is to look at people’s individual needs and
give deaf people a choice,” Trent said. “If you are lucky, you will
get a social work deaf service in your area. But that is often just
one person, with no support and no resources. It is just
tokenistic.”

Trent said not enough resources were allocated to the issues
raised by deaf people and that too much was expected of
under-funded statutory deaf service teams. Using mental health
services for deaf people was an example of poor provision, she
said: “There are only three services nationally. A deaf person with
mental health needs who lives in the South West would have to
travel to London for services.”