I am a culturally Deaf researcher and a British Sign Language user based in SORD (Social Research with Deaf People) research group at the University of Manchester. My main research interests are (1) health research relating to Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users, for example, audiology and mental health; (2) improving access and patient experiences for Deaf BSL users and (3) Patient and Public Involvement and Engagement (PPIE) in health research.

Current research: Social Prescribing for Culturally Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) Users funded by the NIHR Three Schools Mental Health programme. 

Current research: 

NIHR Three Schools Mental Health Research Associate - Social Prescribing for Culturally Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) Users

Social prescribing (SP) supports health and wellbeing in a non-medical way. It allows primary and social care professionals to refer people to non-clinical activities, social groups, learning opportunities and services provided in the community.

Research has shown that people from ethnic/cultural minority groups do not always benefit from SP because of barriers to accessing opportunities that meet their cultural/language needs. Activities and social opportunities within cultural-linguistic communities are not well linked to social prescribing. Deaf British Sign Language (BSL) users are one such group. There is no evidence that SP is used with Deaf signers despite the high rates of poor mental health amongst Deaf people. The social, health and learning benefits of the Deaf community activities are not integrated with SP frameworks meaning Deaf people miss out.