Bengaluru: For Pradeep PK, a resident of Malleswaram living with hearing impairment, seeking mental health support turned into an exercise in frustration.Hoping to find assistance, he recently downloaded the Tele Manas app — a Union health ministry and Nimhans’ mental health initiative aimed at providing immediate psychological support. However, he instead found exclusion. “The app does not seem to help hearing-impaired people who cannot make phone calls. There is no mention of email, a WhatsApp number or a mobile number that can provide responses to chat-based queries,” he said.Pradeep’s experience is not an isolated one. Many mental health helplines have been rolled out in recent years across both public and private sectors. Nearly all of them, Pradeep found, offered only landline or mobile numbers — with no alternative communication options such as chat-based platforms, email support or verified messaging services. “The Rights of Persons with Disabilities (RPwD) Act, 2016, provides guidelines on how public services should be made disabled-friendly, but most times, these guidelines are ignored,” Pradeep said.Activists also pointed out that most hearing- and speech-impaired people in the city currently have no resources to turn to during a mental health emergency. While a handful of chatbots and alternative platforms have emerged in recent years, most are not backed by credible or well-known institutions, making them difficult to rely on. VS Basavaraju, executive director (strategy) and founder secretary of Disability NGOs Alliance, said: “When the govt creates programmes on a mega scale, they often forget minorities who might not benefit from one-size-fits-all programmes. We repeatedly see mental health helplines put out huge numbers about the people they have helped. But when those with impairments need counselling, there are largely no resources available. The govt has time and again failed to pay attention to this problem.” Basavaraju added accessibility challenges are not limited to those with hearing or speech impairments. “There are senior citizens who may not even be aware of existing resources. There are stroke patients who cannot speak properly nor type into a chatbot. They may be in great distress, but have no good counselling options,” he said.However, there are indications that change may be on the horizon. According to Naveen Kumar C, professor of psychiatry and head of community psychiatry at Nimhans, feedback from persons with disabilities has been received and is being considered. “We are working on enhancing accessibility, and it will take us at least a few months to integrate it into the system,” he said. While for in-person consultation, Nimhans does not have a separate sign language counselling service, it offers services with the help from doctors/counsellors on the campus who are well versed in sign language. Quote box:Since this is a prevalent problem, I will direct the health department officials to do some research on this subject. We will explore the possibilities of developing a chat-based system which could help those in need– Dinesh Gundu Rao, health minister
