Sexual education for deaf girls, boys and teenager

During last half of 2009 we carry out health workshops in secondary schools for deaf. A group conformed by sign language interpreters, deaf leaders and medical doctors of the adolescence service of the Argerich Hospital prepared themselves to carry out workshops in four schools. The working team carried out four visits to each school to discuss topics like family planning, sexual health care, sexual and reproductive rights. The deaf students took part of the workshops doing questions and commentaries based on their own experiences. Some experiences related to silenced sexual abuse and to lack of intimacy due to the deficient Argentinean Health System were qualified by the doctors as: " the silence of the great silence " (the doubly silenced abuse). Results and impact The workshops benefited more than 120 deaf students and caused a huge impact on the medical team that had never worked before with the deaf population. Their observations about the critical conditions of the deaf population due to their lack of information and the deprivation in relation with deaf rights provoked a positive impact in the medical team. Thanks to this first contact we can anticipate future joined actions: 1. The development of centralized services for deaf people, 2. The inclusion of sign language interpreters in health services, 3. Training of deaf leaders to promote healthy behaviors, 4. Elaboration of accessible material for the deaf in sign language, We are starting to produce educational material for the empowerment of deaf women in relation to their health and child care. This material will be in written and in video (sign language) format and it will be distributed to deaf associations and schools for the deaf.

Links:

• Canales' website