Miss-Delectable
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http://www.post-trib.com/cgi-bin/pto-story/news/z1/06-22-05_z1_news_15.html
CROWN POINT — For a woman in an abusive relationship, enlisting the services of a shelter is a difficult proposition.
But for a woman who’s hearing impaired or deaf, it’s downright frightening.
A program geared toward social workers put on by the Lake County Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at the Government Center Tuesday sought to remedy that situation.
Although deaf women don’t appear to be abused any more than other women, their challenges are more problematic, according to Domestic Violence educator Lainie Williams of the Chicago Hearing Society.
“The deaf community, for as many people that are in it, is a small community, and it’s common for news of that magnitude to travel across the country quickly,” Williams said. “For that reason alone, it makes it harder to keep plans to move away or hide from an abuser secret from everyone.”
Fear and lack of resources on the part of law enforcement and service agencies is also often a big hindrance to deaf women.
“Attorneys, for example, have been known to deny deaf clients because they would have to pick up the cost, and it can be really expensive,” Williams said. “Also, agencies, if they have the equipment, aren’t experienced with it and don’t know what to do when someone contacts them using it.”
American Sign Language is also a barrier, because its written syntax is completely different from standard English and is often hard to pick up.
Another common misconception is that all hearing-impaired people can read lips.
Williams cited one of her clients as an example.
“Julie tried to call a domestic violence shelter, but because people often confuse the TTY with a fax machine (because of the beeping sound the TTY makes when connecting), the shelter hung up on her,” she said.
“Can you imagine trying to get help, and then getting hung up on?”
Some shelters are equipped to handle the deaf and hearing-impaired community, Williams said, while others know they’re supposed to, but because they don’t encounter deaf clients often, they let it fall by the wayside.
Joanne Snyder, director for Professional Interpreters for the Deaf in Merrillville, sees that all the time.
“I’ve seen agencies allow children to interpret for their mothers time and time again, and it breaks your heart,” Snyder said.
CROWN POINT — For a woman in an abusive relationship, enlisting the services of a shelter is a difficult proposition.
But for a woman who’s hearing impaired or deaf, it’s downright frightening.
A program geared toward social workers put on by the Lake County Task Force on Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault at the Government Center Tuesday sought to remedy that situation.
Although deaf women don’t appear to be abused any more than other women, their challenges are more problematic, according to Domestic Violence educator Lainie Williams of the Chicago Hearing Society.
“The deaf community, for as many people that are in it, is a small community, and it’s common for news of that magnitude to travel across the country quickly,” Williams said. “For that reason alone, it makes it harder to keep plans to move away or hide from an abuser secret from everyone.”
Fear and lack of resources on the part of law enforcement and service agencies is also often a big hindrance to deaf women.
“Attorneys, for example, have been known to deny deaf clients because they would have to pick up the cost, and it can be really expensive,” Williams said. “Also, agencies, if they have the equipment, aren’t experienced with it and don’t know what to do when someone contacts them using it.”
American Sign Language is also a barrier, because its written syntax is completely different from standard English and is often hard to pick up.
Another common misconception is that all hearing-impaired people can read lips.
Williams cited one of her clients as an example.
“Julie tried to call a domestic violence shelter, but because people often confuse the TTY with a fax machine (because of the beeping sound the TTY makes when connecting), the shelter hung up on her,” she said.
“Can you imagine trying to get help, and then getting hung up on?”
Some shelters are equipped to handle the deaf and hearing-impaired community, Williams said, while others know they’re supposed to, but because they don’t encounter deaf clients often, they let it fall by the wayside.
Joanne Snyder, director for Professional Interpreters for the Deaf in Merrillville, sees that all the time.
“I’ve seen agencies allow children to interpret for their mothers time and time again, and it breaks your heart,” Snyder said.
