[Deaf communities: patients or citizens?]. / Comunidades sordas: ¿pacientes o ciudadanas?

The concept of disability is related to discrimination and social exclusion; that is, this issue is a socio-political question whose effects go well beyond the health of the individual. The social and human rights based model of disability points the way to fresh opportunities for action to promote the wellbeing and health of the seventy million Deaf people living in the world today. The key factors in preventing discrimination against the Deaf are recognition of their specific cultural and linguistic identity (including sign languages and Deaf culture), bilingual education, the availability of professional sign language interpreting, and access to information and communication. The present article aims to encourage greater understanding of the significance of adopting this new perspective on disability, its congruence with current national and international legislation on the rights of persons with disabilities in general and of Deaf persons in particular, and its implications in the policies and praxis due to be implemented in Spain over the next few years on enhancing the health of the Deaf community through significant examples of good practice. Examples of good practice for distinct Deaf communities include collaboration between these communities and the health sector, health training for sign language users, the inclusion of the language and culture of Deaf persons in training programs for healthcare professionals, training of Deaf specialists as future health researchers and workers, and health care services that are more accessible via different sign languages.

Comunidades sordas: ¿pacientes o ciudadanas? / Deaf communities: patients or citizens?

La discapacidad es un concepto relacionado con la discriminación y la exclusión social; es decir, es unacuestión de naturaleza sociopolítica que no sólo afecta a la salud individual. El modelo social de discapacidado modelo de derechos humanos abre nuevas posibilidades de actuación para promover la saludde los setenta millones de personas sordas que hay en la actualidad en el mundo. Los factores claveque garantizan que éstas no sigan siendo discriminadas son el reconocimiento de las lenguas de signosy de su identidad lingüística y cultural, la educación bilingüe, la interpretación profesional en lenguade signos y la accesibilidad a la información y las comunicaciones. Este artículo pretende avanzar en lacomprensión de la naturaleza y el significado de la adopción de esta nueva perspectiva de la discapacidad,su coherencia con el nuevo marco legislativo nacional e internacional en materia de derechos de laspersonas con discapacidad en general y de las sordas en particular, y sus implicaciones en las políticas yprácticas de promoción de la salud de la comunidad sorda que se desarrollen en Espa˜na en los próximosa˜nos; todo ello a través de ejemplos significativos de buenas prácticas en la materia, entre las cuales seincluyen alianzas entre las comunidades sordas y el sector sanitario, capacitación en materia de saludde las personas usuarias de lenguas de signos, formación de distintos profesionales de la salud sobre lacultura y la lengua de las personas sordas, formación de especialistas sordos como futuros investigadoresy profesionales de la salud, y servicios sanitarios más accesibles mediante estas lenguas (AU)

The concept of disability is related to discrimination and social exclusion; that is, this issue is a sociopoliticalquestion whose effects go well beyond the health of the individual. The social and human rightsbased model of disability points the way to fresh opportunities for action to promote the wellbeing andhealth of the seventy million Deaf people living in the world today.The key factors in preventing discrimination against the Deaf are recognition of their specific culturaland linguistic identity (including sign languages and Deaf culture), bilingual education, the availabilityof professional sign language interpreting, and access to information and communication.The present article aims to encourage greater understanding of the significance of adopting this newperspective on disability, its congruence with current national and international legislation on the rightsof persons with disabilities in general and of Deaf persons in particular, and its implications in the policiesand praxis due to be implemented in Spain over the next few years on enhancing the health of the Deafcommunity through significant examples of good practice. Examples of good practice for distinct Deafcommunities include collaboration between these communities and the health sector, health training forsign language users, the inclusion of the language and culture of Deaf persons in training programs forhealthcare professionals, training of Deaf specialists as future health researchers and workers, and healthcare services that are more accessible via different sign languages (AU)

Setting the stage for school health-promoting programmes for deaf children in Spain.

Implementing health-promoting programmes for the most excluded and at-risk social groups forms a key part of any efforts to address underserved populations and reduce health inequalities in society. However, many at-risk children, particularly children in deaf communities, are not reached, or are poorly served, by health-promoting programmes within the school setting. This is so because schools are effective as health-promoting environments for d/Deaf children only to the extent that they properly address their unique communication needs and ensure they are both able and enabled to learn in a communication-rich and supportive psycho-social environment. This article examines how the usually separate strands of school health promotion and d/Deaf education might be woven together and illustrates research with deaf community members that involves them and gives their perspective. The primary objective of this study was to map deaf pilot bilingual education programmes in Spain-one of the first countries to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (United Nations. (2006) Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Resolution A/RES/61/106.)-with particular attention to their compliance to the Convention's article 24. Following pre-testing, 516 key informants were surveyed by mail (response rate: 42.08%) by using a snow-ball key-informant approach, within a Participatory Action Research framework, at a national, regional and local level. The results show that although some schools have achieved recommended standards, bilingual programmes are in various stages of formulation and implementation and are far from being equally distributed across the country, with only four regions concentrating more than 70% of these practices. This uneven geographical distribution of programmes probably reflects more basic differences in the priority given by regions, provinces, and municipalities to the deaf community's needs and rights as an important policy objective and may reinforce or widen inequalities by favouring or discriminating rather than achieving access and equity for this noticeably overlooked community.