Disability History Month 2024: A GP’s journey to accessible healthcare for deaf patients

As part of Disability History Month 2024, we spotlight the inspiring journey of a GP registrar in South West London who is transforming healthcare accessibility for the Deaf community.

With a deep personal connection to British Sign Language (BSL) and the Deaf community, she has spearheaded the creation of a groundbreaking BSL-friendly sexual health clinic. Driven by her passion for equity in healthcare, she shares her story of learning BSL, the challenges faced by Deaf patients, and her vision for a more inclusive NHS.

Firstly, can you introduce yourself to our readers - who you are, what you do, where you are based.

My name is Rose Balázs. I am a doctor from South London, I trained in Glasgow. I am a GP currently working in South West London. 

How did you come to learn BSL? What is your connection to the deaf community?

My older sister is profoundly Deaf and I was taught basic BSL when I was a baby/toddler and could sign before I could speak.

My parents then focussed more on spoken English and so we stopped signing at home. My sister then picked up BSL again at a Deaf school in her late teens and realised how much more comfortable it was for her to be around signers rather than lip reading.

She asked us all to learn and it took me a long time to get round to it, but eventually after medical school and my first couple of years of training as a junior doctor, I moved back to London and started going to BSL classes.

I was overwhelmed with how much I loved learning BSL, the depth, richness, creativity, humour and discovery of a different part of my brain and personality. I carried on to level 6 which I finished in the summer of 2022.

Was it your idea to set up a BSL friendly / accessible sexual health clinic? How did this initiative come to fruition?

Yes it was my idea. When I was working as a junior doctor in South London, every time I met Deaf patients and used my sign language, even before I was fluent, I realised how rare and helpful it is to be a doctor who can sign.

I knew that I wanted to create a space somehow in the NHS that would allow Deaf people better access to services and raise awareness of existing inequalities.

I spent some time with the National Deaf Mental Health Services when I was doing my psychiatry job at Springfield hospital and was absolutely fascinated by the workings of the service.

When I did my rotation in sexual health, I came across quite a few Deaf patients, and there were a couple of cases with particularly vulnerable people who I felt had received very poor care in the past.

They had been seen previously without interpreters and did not understand the treatments being offered. One young patient had an invasive procedure done by their GP, who did not in my opinion have the capacity to consent to the procedure, and her capacity had clearly not been assessed as no interpreter was present at their appointment (it was quite shocking).

It became clear to me that there was a huge gap in sexual health provision for Deaf people and perhaps there was something I could do about it.

Do you think BSL users / deaf people in general struggle when it comes to accessing information about sexual health?

I think the short answer is yes, there are so many factors of course. I think there are low levels of sex education across our society in general, and a lot of people need more awareness of sexual health, this should be starting in schools.

On one hand, I have met Deaf people who are very literate about their sexual health, then are people who are too embarrassed to go to a sexual health clinic and some who haven’t even heard of or considered the existence of such clinics.

I am aware that Deaf people may be anxious if they were to attend a clinic, that they will arrive at their appointment and not have an interpreter present if they need one. They also may be worried about knowing the interpreter as the Deaf community is so small.

Sexual health is a specialty which really focusses on the whole person and can take people to vulnerable places, which is one of the reasons I find it so rewarding.

Deaf people have the option of seeing me directly without the need for an interpreter. There is evidence that this is something Deaf people want and data to back this up by Damian Brewer who has researched the Deaf community’s access to Sexual health.

What would you like to see change or improve in future with regards to deaf people accessing sexual health clinics?

Gosh, so much. I would like to see accessibility across the NHS change for all people who face barriers. I know from the Accessible Information Standard and lots of experience at work and speaking to family/friends, that people who do not speak English as a first language often get worse care in the NHS. I also know that Deaf awareness training amongst NHS staff is very rare.

What would you like to develop or see happen next for deaf people in London or further afield relating to their health?

I am very aware as a hearing person that I do not want to try and speak for Deaf people, however I hope I can be a good ally.

I hope that the existence of our service might raise awareness of sexual health within the Deaf community. I would like to see widespread Deaf Awareness training across the whole NHS, I wish BSL training was more accessible to NHS staff (ideally funded) and I wish people had a better awareness in the NHS of how to book BSL interpreters, and that writing back and forth is usually an extremely suboptimal way of communicating with people.

Watch a short video below featuring Rose where she talks about the personal experiences and pivotal moments that inspired her to establish this BSL-friendly clinic.

Details on the service for the d/Deaf community and how to make an appointment can be found on the Sexual Health South West London webpage.