Lifeline training in Deafness and Domestic Abuse
Clare is a profoundly Deaf, native user of BSL. She is also a survivor of domestic abuse.
Clare Chilton – Lifeline training in Deafness and Domestic Abuse
Clare is a profoundly Deaf, native user of BSL. She is also a survivor of domestic abuse. Deafness massively compounds the complexities of domestic abuse, especially when it comes to seeking help from the core services that support all victims of domestic abuse. This usually goes unrealised. As a Deaf, survivor with lived experience, Clare wants to offer lifeline training to the Police, courts, social services and other relevant mainstream services to make it easier for everyone to help Deaf victims to disclose and to support them; whether victims use sign language or another means of communication.
“ The abuse happened to me many years ago and I felt I had nowhere to turn. Back then there was very little access to services for Deaf sign language users, I couldn’t make the police and my doctor understand what was happening to me and they simply did not understand the language and culture of the signing Deaf community that made my situation so much worse – if they had it would have made a big difference. I couldn’t tell my family because I didn’t want to hurt them and I definitely didn’t want them to explain on my behalf. Awareness and access has improved since but still many of the services that support victims of domestic abuse do not realise that being Deaf is so much more dangerous in a domestic abuse situation. Where services don’t appreciate what it is that prevents Deaf victims from disclosing, it keeps them in peril for much longer than is necessary and can abandon them to a terrible fate.”
Clare has also been employed in the field of Deafness and Domestic Abuse for 7 years, she is a qualified IDVA and now she is starting a new freelance venture aimed at making life much easier for Deaf victims and the services that are there to help everyone. Clare is also qualified to teach Deaf Awareness, British Sign Language, Levels 1- 6 and Level 6 Interpreter training. In addition to this, Clare offers upskilling opportunities to registered sign language interpreters that are working with Deaf victims and survivors of domestic abuse as this is regarded as a specialist area of work for interpreters. Whilst registered interpreters are vital to the social care, police and court processes there are some simple things that these services can do (ahead of bringing in interpreters) to make Deaf victims feel able to approach them and disclose at the earliest possible moment –
“Nobody expects legal, medical and social care professionals to be fluent in sign language, it takes many years to acquire this, but as a Deaf survivor of domestic abuse I have seen and experienced the barriers that left me unable to tell and kept me in a place that enabled my perpetrator’s abusive activities to continue undetected. If the services that I tried to approach had had some Deaf awareness training both generic and in specialist Deafness and Domestic abuse they might have been able to protect me sooner. And if they had known some signs relevant to the domain they work in, I would have felt able to come forward independently and disclose so much sooner. I wouldn’t have had to experience the additional stress nor wait for weeks for an available interpreter. It would have been a ‘lifeline’ for me and now for the many other Deaf victims that still suffer in silence”.
In many cases, registered interpreters are able to provide access but some victims are too traumatised or lack the language and comprehension skills to follow interpreters in legal settings where the language and processes are too complicated for them to understand and contribute with certainty to proceedings. It is assumed that hearing, BSL/English interpreters must handle all of this and it may often go unnoticed that other types of communication support are needed to ensure justice. Clare is also an NRCPD registered Deaf Translator, a native BSL relay working between the interpreter and the Deaf person from BSL to modified BSL and it can make a world of difference to the outcome. As a working translator, Clare is also able to help vital services to identify barriers to justice and discreetly consider alternative solutions in a timely manner.
“There is specialist IDVA support out there for Deaf BSL users, but the one thing that is lacking is the support for the core services that work with Deaf victims and survivors, whether they use BSL or are hard of hearing and struggling to understand what is being said. Often the barriers and the misunderstandings are realised once it is too late and where justice hasn’t been correctly served for victims. I can really help social workers, non-specialist IDVAs, the police, courts and any other disciplines involved to provide an equal experience to Deaf victims and survivors so that they get their access to justice. With lived experience and my skills and qualifications I am in a unique position to offer this”.
Contact Clare for more information.