A phenomenological examination of disability, microaggressions, and the experiences of deaf adults in mental health services

The current study explored the experiences of or knowledge about mental health services by culturally Deaf adults in order to understand the presence or absence of disability microaggressions in psychology. Members of the Deaf culture are part of a linguistic cultural minority group who may be predisposed to experience microaggressions because of ableism and their nonhearing status. This study focused on a specific group of individuals and used phenomenological methods. Participants were viewed in the overall context of their lives and the impact of the examiner was recognized. Seven volunteers (five women and two men) 18 years and older, regardless of gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation, were reviewed. The examiner's inclusion criteria were communication preference for ASL and willingness to share experiences related to or knowledge about mental health services. A total of five clusters with themes form an exhaustive description of their experiences. Three themes associated with microaggressions were discovered in this study.