ABSTRACT
After a 1-year stay in a Deaf psychiatric inpatient unit, Juan was finally discharged. Juan has Schizoaffective disorder. He has periods of depression and psychotic symptoms like auditory hallucinations 2 and extreme cognitive disorganization. Juan also has a trauma history. He was sexually and physically abused as a child and adolescent. He had immigrated with his mother to the United States when he was 9, a major life disruption which no one had been able to explain to him or discuss. Juan has functional sign language skills in ASL. Good ASL signers can communicate reasonably well with him. Users of Sign English might as well be speaking Greek. During his inpatient stay, Juan learned some basic coping skills such as the “red, yellow, green” (Glickman, 2009) skill, giving himself a time out, deep breathing, and use of a rocking chair while sitting under a weighted blanket. He is not as explosive as he was on admission. Medication has helped his mood stabilize and his mind clear, and he was now able to discuss simple plans for next steps in his life.
