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A Psychiatric Unit for the Deaf

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2018

John G. Denmark
Affiliation:
Social Worker, Department of Psychiatry for the Deaf Whittingham Hospital, Preston, Lancashire
Frank Warren
Affiliation:
Social Worker, Department of Psychiatry for the Deaf Whittingham Hospital, Preston, Lancashire

Extract

Lack of speech, i.e. dumbness, has long been equated with backwardness, and probably for this reason and because of success in teaching some hearing impaired children to speak, the terms ‘deaf and dumb’ and ‘deaf mute’ have fallen into disrepute. When deafness is profound and prelingual (i.e. congenital or acquired in early infancy), there is a formidable barrier to the development of language. Many deaf children still leave school with poor language, incomprehensible speech and little ability in lip reading and consequently come to rely upon manual communication methods (finger spelling and signing).

Type
Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Royal College of Psychiatrists, 1972 

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References

Basilier, T. (1964). ‘Surdophrenia.’ Acta Psychiatrica Scandinavica, 40, suppl. 180, 363–72.Google Scholar
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Denmark, J. C. and Eldridge, R. W. (1969). ‘Psychiatric services for the deaf.’ Lancet, 2 August, pp. 259–62 and Journal of Rehabilitation of the Deaf (1970), 4, no. 2.Google Scholar
Denmark, J. C. and Eldridge, R. W. (1971). ‘Developmental disorders of communication.’ British Journal of Disorders of Communication. 6, no. 2, 113–19.Google ScholarPubMed
Kallmann, F. J. (1963). ‘Family and mental health problems in a deaf population.’ Department of Medical Genetics, New York State Psychiatric Institute, Columbia University, New York.Google Scholar
Minski, L. (1966). Medical News, 10 June, p. 11.Google Scholar
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