Mental Health Champion, Professor Siobhan O’Neill, was recently presented with a framed copy of the Belfast Statement on Mental Health and Deafness by Brian Symington MBE Principal Social Worker with Deaf people and former Director of the Royal National Institute of the Deaf People here in Northern Ireland .
The Statement sets out the right to effective communication access in mental health settings for Deaf, late-deafened, hard of hearing and Deafblind people of all ages. It is endorsed by the World Federation of the Deaf, the European Society on Mental Health and Deafness, the British Deaf Association, Sense/Sense International and the NI Human Rights Commission.