A look at mental illness from another language
Hayden Kristal teaching ASL signs relating to mental illness
Mental health and illness can be a broad and challenging topic to understand in and of itself. Understanding it fully is not something that one person can do and blogging about different aspects of mental health in previous posts just barely covered the surface of what is actually is. Though I haven’t even quite begun to master how to explain it in English, I thought working with Hayden would be a great opportunity to not only broaden my ASL skills, but to also understand what problems those who struggle with a mental illness, especially in a deaf community, are really facing.
And by “broaden my ASL skills”, I mean learn a few more things beyond being able to sign my name, B-R-O-O-K-E. Shoot, I had it easy when being taught in grade school because I had a “repeat letter” in my name. Five letters was all I knew.
With that aside, both Hayden and I used the opportunity of the blog post to delve into developing a series of videos where I learn several ASL signs for words that are associated with mental health and illness. I expanded my vocabulary beyond the one fluent language I could speak (Je parle un peu le français.)
Though, this would not be without Hayden Kristal’s expertise in American Sign Language but also being patient with me in trying to learn some of these signs that can mean so much to so many people.
Here are some signs relating to health as modeled by Hayden and myself!
Again, thank you to Hayden for being so patient with me. Though I messed up a few times and got signs mixed up, it was a learning experience that I’m hoping to continue with Hayden’s suggestion of ASLU to expand my vocabulary and improve my signing.
Brooke and I had a great time learning signs relating to her area of expertise and sharing our experiences with one another. Teaching hearing people about ASL, the Deaf Community, and ways to make mental health more accessible is incredibly important to me because Deaf people face significant challenges in confronting mental health issues. On our campus, I see suicide helplines such as this one for Central and Southeast Missouri advertised often. What if people don’t have access to a video relay system to make the phone call?
Some mental health providers don’t know how to hire an interpreter or that they’re required to provide one, and the Deaf people dealing with mental health issues are the least likely to have the emotional and mental strength it takes to educate people and fight battles that have already been won. I really appreciate Brooke’s willingness to learn some signs and talk about the issues that Deaf people face, because it gives me hope that the next generation of mental health providers will be open to learning more and making services more accessible.
To learn more about the issues relating to mental health that are faced by the Deaf community, please visit the National Association of the Deaf.
To learn how to hire an interpreter, please visit this guide by the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.
To start learning ASL or to learn more about the Deaf community, check out Lifeprint.com.
