There is acutely raising awareness of disabled people, and D/deaf people who have a mental illness/health shed important part of the society today. For example, a young gymnastic youth struggling to cope when completing the Tokyo Olympics 2020 in Tokyo, Japan. Her name is Simone Biles, and she is under 25 years old.
“It’s just me in my head,” she said. “I have to focus on my mental health and not jeopardise my health and wellbeing. We have to protect our body and our mind. It’s very unfortunate this has to happen at this stage … it just sucks when you’re fighting with your own head.”

Then we heard another sad news from Australia – a former heartthrob actor of Home and Away programme and this throb was Dieter Brummers died suddenly a few weeks ago. Dieter’s mum begged other people to think about their loved one as a family member, friends who may have mental illness and the critical need is to get help through networks like Healthline.
https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/home-and-away-actor-dieter-brummers-mum-shares-call-to-action-to-use-our-grief/44KWGFHUIOKAVUJP5S3XS5LUII/

“What mental health needs is more sunlight, more candor, and more unashamed conversation.” — Glenn Close

Another matter of the next person who visited Jean last week was seeking advice on mental health with disability course with his family member. Two organisations have turned this person away due to background check reference, and Jean managed to find one organisation that fit this person to take up a course.

Jean knows one Deaf woman through many years ago, and this Deaf woman’s solo mother and a deaf brother as well met Jean’s mother back in the 1980s. The Deaf woman is Claire (real name withheld privately), and her life turned upside down when she was soon to be a teenager and before her mother met a future husband. Claire left home by running away, living with the homeless people who do glue-sniffing, making new hearing friends under the bridge, in the streets, or anywhere in the park and living/mixing with the ‘wrong’ friends in a house.

Sometimes Claire came home to see her mother, a Deaf brother, stepfather and half brother, but a proper family relationship did not work out for such a long time. Claire had high mental illness for many years, and she went to Mental Health Clinics several times. Her Deaf friends do not understand her entirely, but they know that Claire’s behaviour changed quickly, and her mind’s ability was disturbed. Her Deaf friends think different because they do not understand what is mental illness. Claire’s mother keeps in touch with Jean’s mother over the years. Claire was okay when she was flatting in one of the local areas, but the problem started with the neighbour who does not understand Claire’s Deaf, communicate in sign language, and the neighbour knew Claire is a mental health person. Her neighbour suggests that Claire must lock up for good in the Mental Health Clinic. Yes, it sounds awful, nasty and unrespectful coming from the neighbour and the partner. Unfortunately, her neighbour made Claire’s life worst and hell because her neighbour refused to acknowledge Claire’s deaf except the mental illness. The last time Jean saw Claire, she raised concern if her neighbour will make one last attempt to escalate the dispute or break the trigger that creates something worse from Claire’s state of her mental illness. Jean’s concern for Claire came true, and the result of the incident had happened to the neighbour on a fateful day.

Claire admitted the incident caused by her neighbour, and she carries her consequence for the rest of her life in another Mental Health Clinic – Prison. What went wrong? The Mental Health system lacked staff training and awareness in Deaf culture, communication, the vital need of interpreters and interpreter’s skills, the inaccessible programme for patients. The Social Workers and support person’s lack of skills and the lack of authentic assessment of help improve the quality of life were no help Claire over many years.

Mental illness/health is an issue that gets swept under the rug. Many police transfer sick people to different regions before the whanau gets an authentic assessment done, and many homeless do not feel safe talking to police. Mental health is on the rise with our homeless people. Often disabled people and Deaf people do not want to share their mental health/illness with other people or outside the family. Because partially the disabled people/Deaf people with mental illness prefer to keep to themselves or a trusted family only by thinking they will be okay.

The main problem is when these people with mental illness push people’s trust like Jean or family members away, and they lose their friends and family without support or assistance for help. For many years, Jean has seen many young disabled people and homeless people living independently and refused to get help like counsellors, support groups, and networks like HelpLine services. Jean recalled three homeless people in the past. They are no longer around because they pass away unexpectedly when they decided to do something foolish until the Police visit Jean and the staff at the workplace. Yes, it was a tragedy and a disappointing outcome. Two Deaf with mental illness contacted Jean, but sadly, both of them decided to discontinue keeping in touch with Jean due to distrust and take-up to believe the wrong information about Jean’s role by other Deaf people’s bad message/unclear stories.

In New Zealand, many counsellors and social workers are learning more or have a limited understanding of disabled people/D/deaf people with mental illness at a slow pace and still facing complex accessible resources. There are more urgent resource needs here; for example, Jean has two books available in the office. Also, an excellent website is beneficial for anyone accessing or seeking advice from Jean or one of the Disability Service/Social Networks staff.

Over many years, New Zealand’s Deaf community struggles with stigma, prejudice, and communication every day. Many medical studies and University research has found D/deaf people suffer from mental illness/health around three to four times more than the general population. Furthermore, the worst is the lack of communication by gaining a qualified interpreter with mental health skills and NZSL (New Zealand Sign Language) and access to mental health services. The types of mental health issues common and well-known in the D/deaf community are depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, and severe other illnesses. There are several networks where there is a Mental Health Interpreter Service, and this service benefits teaching and learning to interpret the correct information to specialists and GPs. There is a good network – Mental Health Interpreter Service in the UK through online service Jean sees on her Facebook page.

Where to get help:

• https://depression.org.nz/get-better/your-identity/deaf/

0800 543 354 (0800 LIFELINE) or free text 4357 (HELP) (available 24/7)
• https://www.lifeline.org.nz/services/suicide-crisis-helpline
• YOUTHLINE: 0800 376 633
• NEED TO TALK? Free call or text 1737 (available 24/7)
• KIDSLINE: 0800 543 754 (available 24/7)
• WHATSUP: 0800 942 8787 (1pm to 11pm)
• DEPRESSION HELPLINE: 0800 111 757 or TEXT 4202
• NATIONAL ANXIETY 24 HR HELPLINE: 0800 269 4389