DeafHealth

Latest News


It has started!
The online survey has been launched. You can no go to www.deafhealth.org.uk and complete the survey. It's confidential, it has funny comedy sketches, and it's important. Make a difference and do it today.

Winner
Congratulations to Kerry Knight, who won our latest prize draw. Kerry said, ""This is a lovely surprise.  Thank you all so much and I hope this important research goes really well."

Success
SignHealth has been successful in its application to the Big Lottery! This means the Deaf Health research can now happen. We now need as many Deaf people to take part. If the research is a success it could help to save lives, and improve the health of Deaf people. It really is that important - but it depends on you.

You can see the application here. 

How you can help

SignHealth is working with Deaf Organisations from all over the UK to do a really important piece of research. It will look at the health of Deaf people. We want to know whether deaf people are less healthy than the hearing population. For example, do deaf people experience more heart problems? We also want to know what deaf people think of health services. Once we have proper, scientific research we can then start to campaign for improvements. 

  • Enjoy the comedy sketches :)
  • At the end of the survey, give us your contact details so we can tell you about the next stages of the research
  • Tell everyone you know about the research
  • Download a poster and show it somewhere
  • Download a leaflet and pass it around

We need this evidence so we can force health services to change.

If you choose to take part, you will be asked about your general health. You will be asked about your lifestyle and background.  If you change your mind, that's okay. You are not committing to anything.

Ask your deaf friends and colleagues to join in as well.

All your details will be kept totally confidential.

 

 

Why research is needed

We know that deaf people are more likely to experience mental health problems than hearing people. Evidence from Austria suggests that deaf people are also more likely to experience physical health problems.

The frustrating thing is that these illnesses can often be prevented. There is no reason deaf people should have higher rates of hypertension or diabetes, or any other illness. Health services do not provide equal treatment for deaf people. That is why SignHealth wants to work with the NHS to make sure their services are accessible and fair. It’s also why we want to work with deaf people to give them important information about healthy living.

However, research is needed to highlight the problem. Health services will not address the problem unless they are given the evidence. The DeafHealth project hopes to produce this evidence.

DeafHealth will be the biggest deaf study in the UK. It will look at the health of deaf people and compare this to the health of hearing people. It will also look at the experiences of deaf people and compare these, e.g. communication problems, lack of respect, had to wait longer.

 


Research

We know that deaf people are more likely to experience mental health problems than hearing people. Evidence from Austria suggests that deaf people are also more likely to experience physical health problems.

Now we need the evidence from the UK.