Individuals with disabilities encounter practical and social problems beyond those experienced by nondisabled individuals. This extra burden may in turn increase the risk of developing mental health problems. The objective of this article is to disclose the mental health situation among deaf individuals compared to a control sample of hearing individuals. The analyses are based on two separate Norwegian postal surveys, one among the general population (1995-1997) and one among the deaf population (2001). A shortened version of the Hopkins Symptom Checklist was used to disclose the degree of mental distress among the respondents. Three questions common to the studies were analyzed to determine differences between the two groups. Analyses revealed that the deaf respondents showed significantly more symptoms of mental health problems than the hearing respondents. The results point to the need for focussing more attention on the mental health of deaf children and adults. Society must be made aware of the special risks that deaf children and adults encounter with respect to mental health.

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This qualitative study shows that people with rare disorders may experience barriers that can be related to the fact that the disorder is labelled 'rare' when they access health and welfare services. Service-providers within a range of sectors and services seemed to be reluctant to get involved in situations that imply diagnoses that are unknown to them. Further, they seemed to be reluctant to accept information offered to them by the user and they hesitated to seek up information by themselves. If the professionals got involved they tended to base their judgements on their personal assumptions, consequently followed by incorrect actions. The service-providers' negative responses represent a significant barrier for accessing adequate services and assistance for people with rare disorders. These experiences cut across the various disorders in the study and they cut across the various services.

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