Three senior police officers have been working with SignHealth, the healthcare charity for deaf people in an innovative partnership scheme.As part of their Strategic Command Course, officers are required to work with an external organisation on a specific research project. They spend a week with the company or charity and report back in detail, providing observations and recommendations for future actions.
SignHealth is developing a new service, Deaf Hope, to support deaf victims of domestic abuse. We asked the police team to look at how such cases are responded to and what practical measures could be implemented to support the development of Deaf Hope. As part of their research they visited a women’s refuge and interviewed people managing cases of abuse.
The team presented a detailed summary of their findings. They found that whilst there were a number of agencies supporting the deaf community who provided information in BSL, there were no direct links to the issues of domestic abuse or the agencies that provided support to victims. They recommended that immediate inroads are made to enable deaf people to access existing services which could be done with a few simple adjustments to communication.
Steve Powell, SignHealth’s CEO said “The work that this group has done will help us enormously. Domestic abuse has a huge cost to society. For deaf women, the risk of abuse is double that of hearing women, so this is a good reason for SignHealth to be involved. The Police team has come up with some really good suggestions which will inform how we move forward”.
The full report and further details about the Deaf Hope project can be accessed on www.signhealth.org.uk
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