Listening with the Eyes and Body: An Artistic Inquiry to Explore the Needs of Deaf Adults with Chronic Mental Illness

This artistic inquiry illuminated the values, beliefs, and strengths of a small group of members of the Deaf community diagnosed with chronic mental illness, in the hopes of providing quality mental health care and bridging a gap between the hearing and Deaf worlds. The participants included five Deaf or Hard of Hearing adults with chronic mental illness attending a day mental health program. This study explored how I, as a dance/movement therapy student intern and the researcher, can embody Deaf or Hard of Hearing culture and chronic mental illness to express the strengths of the individuals as well as the mental health needs of this population. The data was collected each week from dance/movement therapy and Deaf culture groups in the form of art making, journaling, and movement. Upon completion of data collection, Forinash\u27s qualitative data analysis method and creative synthesis were used by this researcher to create a solo movement piece that was then performed for the participants for validation. After receiving feedback from the participants, the piece was then performed live for the community. 51 pages