What’s So Unique about Bullying and Deaf People?: What’s the first thought that comes to mind when you see the words “bullying” and “Deaf”? Is it a lone Deaf child being picked on by hearing schoolmates? This scenario is what many people mention, perhaps recalling their own childhood experiences or relying on common preconceptions of bullying. While hearing-on-Deaf bullying in the schoolyard does indeed occur, there are additional types of bullying situations involving Deaf people that deserve our attention as well. These situations can have implications for both children and adults. Even though most of the literature on bullying that is written by hearing people, also applies to Deaf people, we do have our own unique bullying issues in our community.

The Clothing-Supported Whisper: If you’ve ever spent more than a couple of hours hanging out with a group of Deaf children, you’ve probably witnessed the Clothing-Supported Whisper. This is when Deaf children yank out the front of their jacket or shirt with one hand, forming a screen that shields whatever they are signing with their other hand (there is also the Signing-Underneath-the-Table Whisper). This makes their signing visible only to a selected friend or two. Oftentimes, it can be a funny sight to see what lengths children will go to in order to whisper something. When the Clothing-Supported Whisper is done repeatedly and purposefully, shutting out a particular child or group of children, however, it turns into something that is no longer funny or cute – it becomes a subtle form of bullying.

Cyberbullying: Another common means of bullying in the Deaf community is cyberbullying. This involves spreading rumors, backstabbing, humiliating, or making fun of people via instant messaging, pagers, emails, blog postings, and other technological means. With more and more Deaf people online every day, the potential for bullying here is great, especially when anonymity is guaranteed.

Deaf Parents’ Dilemmas: Deaf parents face unique challenges when it comes to bullying and their children. Parents of KODAs or Deaf children who are being bullied by hearing children with hearing parents, may find that communication barriers can get in the way of addressing the situation. It can be hard to approach hearing parents to try to resolve bullying issues or to communicate with the hearing child who is doing the bullying. Although communication may not be an issue when the parents of the bully are also Deaf, Deaf parents may still find the situation sticky. On the one hand, they may already know and even be friends with the other parents and the bully due to the closeness of the Deaf community. On the other hand, it can be awkward to bring up a negative topic like bullying. Fear of creating more conflicts may get in the way of being able to discuss the issue with other Deaf parents. The Odyssey magazine offers helpful tips for Deaf parents and schools on how to deal with bullying issues.

New Website on Bullying and Deaf Children: Congratulations to Deaf school psychologist, Dr. Patty Hodgson, who recently launched www.stopdeafbullying.com. This website is a good start for sharing information on bullying with the Deaf community. We hope to see an ASL version of the text on the website soon, making it even more accessible to Deaf adults and children.

Great Opportunity: Coming up next month is the Montgomery, Alabama, Mental Health Interpreting Institute 2006. Scheduled for September 12-17, this 40-hour conference offers intensive training in mental health interpreting with Deaf clients, a must for any interpreter or other professional, Deaf or hearing, who works with Deaf clients and professionals in mental health settings. We heard from a past Institute attendee that this training is very much worth it, as well as affordable. See the conference brochure for more information and an application (be forewarned: it takes a a few moments for the brochure to upload).

Last Resort: Although we are first and foremost advocates of Deaf professionals providing direct services to Deaf clients whenever possible, we know that it is unavoidable that interpreters will be needed in different mental health environments. A Deaf person living in a rural area, for instance, may not have access to a Deaf therapist in person or via videophone. Deaf people hospitalized after a suicide attempt are likely to find themselves amongst hearing clinicians, unless they are fortunate enough to live close to a treatment program designed for Deaf inpatients. The authors in this paper suggest the use of mental health interpreters as a second-best resort; we advocate the use of interpreters only as a last resort, and only when the interpreters are qualified for this type of work.

Word Salads: Mental health interpreters need specific training and experience in the subtle nuances of mental health interpreting, in order to ensure the best possible outcome for a less than ideal professional-client relationship. Not only do mental health interpreters need to become familiar with psychological jargon, they also need education about different mental health diagnoses, psychiatric medications, and assessment procedures, among other issues. An interpreter who is familiar with the concept of a “word salad’, for instance, would recognize a Deaf person’s incomprehensible string of words as a psychiatric symptom and be able to communicate this to the hearing professional. An interpreter with no prior exposure or knowledge of word salads, in contrast, might unintentionally try to “clean up” the Deaf person’s signing so that it makes sense to the hearing professional, unaware that an important psychiatric symptom is unconveyed in the process.

Another example of the importance of mental health interpreting training involves assessment procedures. Psychologists administering tests to clients follow clearly defined steps and directions. An interpreter with little understanding of these procedures might inadvertently over-explain directions to a confused Deaf client by elaborating or expanding on what the psychologist said. In another situation, this may be acceptable, but in this case, the interpreter’s well-meaning intentions may end up “feeding” answers to the Deaf client or leading the client to respond in a certain way, thereby impacting the testing results.

Tiptoeing Around the Topic: Without a doubt, one of the most sensitive issues in the Deaf community today is the role of hearing professionals who work closely with Deaf people. Bringing up this topic is a little bit like walking on eggshells. No matter your intentions – to open a dialogue, to encourage introspection, to understand motivation behind behaviors – you’re bound to hurt some people’s feelings, offend others, or even be misinterpreted as a militant separatist. Treading carefully with this in mind, we take a look at collaboration issues between Deaf and hearing professionals, and the philosophical implications behind them.

The Forensic Psychologist and the Deaf Psychologist: Not long ago, a hearing colleague who specializes in forensic psychology, and who does not sign or know much about Deaf culture, said something that struck us. He complained to Candace that another Deaf psychologist confronted him about his work evaluating Deaf people, and told him point blank that he was not qualified to conduct psychological assessments on Deaf people for the aforementioned reasons. His response was tinged with anger and defensiveness. He replied that the Deaf psychologist did not know as much as he did about forensic psychology, even though she had had some training, and that she was therefore not qualified to do a forensic assessment on a Deaf person.

In this case, who is more qualified to do a forensic psychological evaluation on a Deaf person? The hearing psychologist implied that knowledge of forensic psychology was more important. The Deaf psychologist countered that cultural knowledge and ability to communicate with the client, in addition to specialized training in psychological issues related to Deaf people, was more important. Who was right? Obviously, in this case, since neither psychologist was an expert in both areas, some kind of collaboration between the two experts was called for.

What we would like to point out, though, is the attitude of the hearing psychologist – that knowledge of forensic psychology is a more important factor than understanding anything about Deaf people as a cultural and linguistic minority group. Unfortunately, this type of attitude is widespread among hearing professionals. When they do collaborate with Deaf professionals in this type of situation, it is often the hearing professional who takes most of the credit for the work. This suggests that the hearing professional’s knowledge and expertise is more valued than the Deaf professional’s knowledge and expertise, even though neither could do the forensic psychological evaluation on the Deaf client without the other’s assistance.

In a collaborative effort such as this, the Deaf professional should be in the front, with the hearing professional being available as a consultant, sharing specialized knowledge and allowing the Deaf professional to grow and become an expert in the same area. Many hearing people are privileged in the sense that they have relatively easier access to learning and developing certain professional skills, in a world that can be oppressive to Deaf people. They have far more job opportunities than do Deaf people, making it feasible for them to specialize in areas such as forensic psychology. A Deaf professional, in contrast, might not as easily specialize in such an area simply because there are not as many job opportunities available in that narrow field.

The Tenured Hearing “Helper”: Another common attitude held by hearing (and some Deaf) professionals is that Deaf professionals “need them”. We were once told by a Deaf professor that it was good news that a hearing person got a position as a professor at Gallaudet, because this hearing person could help Deaf people get jobs in that particular department in the future. This is Gallaudet we are talking about, not some anonymous hearing-centered institution that may know nothing about Deaf people and may indeed need hearing allies to educate its people about Deaf professionals. Are Deaf professionals really so pathetic that we can’t get anywhere, even at Gallaudet, without hearing people’s intervention?

This brings to mind two possible definitions of hearing allies “helping” Deaf people. One option is for the hearing person to back off and not apply for a position that could be filled by a Deaf person. Another option is for the hearing person to go ahead and take the job, get tenured, spend 20 years in the position, and then “help” Deaf people by retiring and advocating for a Deaf person as a replacement, never mind the fact that by remaining in the position for 20 years, the hearing person has basically taken away an opportunity from a Deaf person.

To cite: McCullough, C.A., & Duchesneau, S.M. (2006, August 28). Walking on Eggshells: Deaf and Hearing in Consultation. ASC on the Couch. Retrieved (date retrieved), from http://www.ascdeaf.com/blog/?p=136.

A Time for Renewal: Practicing what we preach about taking time off from work to refresh mind and body, ASC begins our annual summer vacation tomorrow. We will be closed until August 28th. As much as we enjoy our work and all the people we are fortunate to encounter through our profession, we know how important it is to slow down every once in a while. When we return in a couple of weeks, it will be with renewed energy and passion for our work.

Looking for a Job?: San Diego Youth and Community Services (SDYCS) will be opening a Deaf group home in January 2007. We heard from a colleague that the agency is very receptive to the idea of finding a Director who is ASL fluent and who knowledgeable and competent in Deaf culture.

For more information, check SDYCS’ webpage and click on “Employment Opportunities” in blue at the top of the page for more information and a listing of qualifications for the position. We always need more Deaf leaders. This is a great opportunity for a Deaf person who is interested in working with Deaf people in the mental health field!