In a healthcare system designed primarily by and for hearing people, access to quality care remains difficult for French Deaf people who speak French Sign Language (LSF).To explore deaf user's perceptions of their access to the primary healthcare system.Qualitative study. Ten semi-structured interviews were conducted in French Sign Language (LSF) with deaf citizens. Data analysis was performed using IPA (Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis).Deaf citizens aspire to access common law in their outpatient care pathways. In practice, they must constantly compromise between quality care, autonomy, and respect for privacy. Medical consultations with hearing physicians become the scene of depersonalization of the deaf patient: stigmatization, infantilization, animalization, and discrimination create the foundation for a dysfunctional therapeutic relationship in which the patient invariably adapts to the physician. Deaf people seam to view health solely through the prism of the absence of symptoms or illnesses. They declare themselves to be in good health while associating their health with negative concepts. While the respondents expect a Deaf leader to change the system at the collective level, the hearing general practitioner remains identified as a lever for improvement at the individual level when he or she practices a patient-centered approach, even in the absence of mastery of LSF.The authors discuss a multifactorial inability for deaf people to express their feelings, linked to an ableist society where the social violence they experience remains invisible, fueling a climate of insecurity and a form of resignation.  The study highlights the methodological limitations of intercultural research conducted here by investigators from the dominant group, particularly when the analysis is based on comments translated into the dominant language.Deaf people live in a vulnerable system that seams to limit the expression of their vulnerability and to shape atypical representations of health. Their study requires an inclusive methodology integrating deaf researchers to guarantee the quality of intercultural research and to carry out data analysis directly in the language of the respondents (LSF).

Deaf speakers of French Sign Language (LSF) belong to a linguistic and cultural minority that suffers from unequal access to primary care. The 1990s and the AIDS epidemic were the context for the awareness of institutions with the creation of the first specialized LSF care units (UASS). The first generation of signing doctors working in these units, now numbering twenty-three are retiring. It is difficult to find replacements. One can wonder about the impact, in the medium term, of this shortage of signing doctors on the sustainability of UASS and access to quality primary care for the Deaf.To explore the perceptions that physicians have of their motivations to initiate, maintain or interrupt a care activity for Deaf patients in sign language.Qualitative study. 18 semi-structured interviews were carried out with physicians concerned with sign language throughout France by two investigators. Data analysis was performed by IPA (Phenomenological Interpretation) after triangulating the data at three levels.There seems to be a decisional balance of health professionals, the result of which leads to initiating, maintaining or interrupting a care activity with Deaf patients. There is a balance between factors of narcissistic valorization (the founding experience generates fascination, indignation, and a sense of power which is accompanied by the emergence of archetypal savior traits with the intention of repairing the wrongs) and downgrading factors (the difficulties inherent in the healthcare system generate frustration, isolation, exhaustion, and a feeling of helplessness which is accompanied by the disillusionment of not being the expected savior).Caring for Deaf people highlights the societal value of the medical profession. The signing physician cares for the Deaf person by addressing their sociological deafness :  In the promotion of autonomy, in the acceptance of the Deaf person  whose cognitive and communicational specificities are taken into account; in the attempt to overcome the social obstacles experienced by the person.The doctor seems to initiate, maintain or interrupt an exercise with the Deaf depending on the representation he has of his power to provide them with quality care.The caregiver takes on a role of savior in his practice with the Deaf.

2025 marks in France the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the law for equal rights and opportunities and the 30th anniversary of the first Deaf unit providing care in sign language. Since then, around twenty units offer Deaf sign language users the liberty to benefit from intelligible primary care consultations in order to promote equitable access to care. Teams of these units are mixed: deaf and hearing caregivers work fraternally to offer a caring environment where disability disappears, embracing humanity.   The prevalence of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) keeps increasing. Their complications are multiple : hepatitis, infertility, cancers (Human Papilloma Viruses - HPV). In France, compared to the general population, deaf people experience poorer sexual health. Studies show limited access to information due to illiteracy and language barriers. Their reporting of STIs is higher. Deaf women experience 2 to 3 times more sexual violence and more than a third who have been pregnant report having had an abortion. Deaf seem to be less informed about HPV and its preventive vaccination.To describe the sexual health and to estimate the HPV vaccination of deaf sign language users of a French Deaf care unit.Quantitative, descriptive, retrospective, unicentric cohort study with 8 substudies. Data collected from 5000 adult deaf patients’ medical reports from a French Deaf care unit from 2004 to early 2025 (sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, Contraceptive method, STIs screening and diagnosis, abortion history, personal history of violence.At abstract submission, the study is in the data collection phase. The results presented are intermediate outcomes. We hypothesize high rates of STIs and abortions, low rates of HPV vaccination. Overexposure to violence might be an associated risk factor.This study will describe the state of health of the deaf population and may propose ways to improve medical practices, particularly in terms of prevention and early diagnosis, which could be objectively validated by a new prospective study.The implementation of effective public health policies requires a thorough understanding of the health status of target populations. We encourage the development of national and international collaborative studies in deaf people’s health.

2025 marks in France the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the law for equal rights and opportunities and the 30th anniversary of the first Deaf unit providing care in sign language. Since then, around twenty units offer Deaf sign language users the liberty to benefit from intelligible primary care consultations in order to promote equitable access to care. Teams of these units are mixed: deaf and hearing caregivers work fraternally to offer a caring environment where disability disappears, embracing humanity. Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of death globally. In France it represents the 2nd leading cause of mortality with 25% of deaths. The global diabetes prevalence has risen to 14% (France 6%) with multiple medical and economic consequences. Scientific data concerning deaf people are scarce. They are thought to have more pronounced cardiovascular risk factors and higher diabetes-related morbidity.Significant difficulties in monitoring and managing these diseases could be linked to the language barrier and their low level of health literacy.To estimate the prevalence of cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes mellitus type 2 and its severe complications of deaf sign language users of a French Deaf care unit.Quantitative, descriptive, retrospective, unicentric cohort study with 8 substudies. Data collected from 5000 adult deaf patients’ medical reports from a French Deaf care unit from 2004 to early 2025 (sociodemographic characteristics, personnel and family medical history and cardiovascular risk factors, diabetes type, glycated hemoglobin, complications, médication).At abstract submission, the study is in the data collection phase. The results presented are intermediate outcomes. We hypothesize a cardiovascular excess morbidity with higher biological markers, an advanced diagnostic stage and the presence of complications.This study will describe the state of health of the deaf population and may propose ways to improve medical practices, particularly in terms of prevention and therapeutic education, which could be objectively validated by a new prospective study.The implementation of effective public health policies requires a thorough understanding of the health status of target populations. We encourage the development of national and international collaborative studies in deaf people’s health.

2025 marks in France the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the law for equal rights and opportunities and the 30th anniversary of the first Deaf unit providing care in sign language. Since then, around twenty units offer Deaf sign language users the liberty to benefit from intelligible primary care consultations in order to promote equitable access to care. Teams of these units are mixed: deaf and hearing caregivers work fraternally to offer a caring environment where disability disappears, embracing humanity. Mental Health is a Global Public Health Issue. In France, 20% of the population is affected by a mental illness and its psychotropic medicines consumption continues to increase. Deaf sign language users present a multifactorial vulnerability. Research shows excessive psychiatric morbidity with higher rates of suicidal throughs (x5) and attempted suicide(x3). Deaf sign language users experience social isolation and exhaustion due to illiteracy and language barriers. These social environment factors lead to feelings of loneliness and situational anxiety and depression.To describe the mental health and to identify associated factors of deaf sign language users of a French Deaf care unit.Quantitative, descriptive, retrospective, unicentric cohort study with 8 substudies. Data collected from 5000 adult deaf patients’ medical reports from a French Deaf care unit from 2004 to early 2025 (sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, suicidal behavior, family mental health history, addictive behavior, mental health treatments, personal history of violence).At abstract submission, the study is in the data collection phase. The results presented are intermediate outcomes. We hypothesize a higher psychotropic medicines medication and excessive rates of suicidal throughs. Overexposure to all kinds of violence might be an associated factor.This study will describe the state of health of the deaf population and may propose ways to improve medical practices, particularly in terms of mental health issues screening, which could be objectively validated by a new prospective study.The implementation of effective public health policies requires a thorough understanding of the health status of target populations. We encourage the development of national and international collaborative studies in deaf people’s health.

2025 marks in France the 20th anniversary of the promulgation of the law for equal rights and opportunities and the 30th anniversary of the first Deaf unit providing care in sign language. Since then, around twenty units offer Deaf sign language users the liberty to benefit from intelligible primary care consultations in order to promote equitable access to care. Teams of these units are mixed: deaf and hearing caregivers work fraternally to offer a caring environment where disability disappears, embracing humanity. Cancer is the leading cause of death in France and justifies national organized screening programs, but general population participation rates remain low 48% for breast cancer, 34% for colorectal cancer, and 59% for cervical cancer. Deaf sign language users present a multifactorial vulnerability. Illiteracy and language barriers lead to exclusion from prevention campaigns and limited access to mass media. The literature shows lower participation in some organized screenings as well as for some cancers a more advanced-stage at the time of diagnosis.To estimate French national diagnosis screening programs participation and to describe neoplasm staging at diagnosis of deaf sign language users of a French Deaf care unit.Quantitative, descriptive, retrospective, unicentric cohort study with 8 substudies. Data collected from 5000 adult deaf patients’ medical reports from a French Deaf care unit from 2004 to early 2025 (sociodemographic characteristics, medical history, screening programs participation. If cancer : target organs, diagnostic staging, remission information, cancer risk factors, cancer family history).At abstract submission, the study is in the data collection phase. The results presented are intermediate outcomes. We hypothesize lower participation in screenings and a more advanced diagnostic stage than the general population, consistent with scientific publications.This study will describe the state of health of the deaf population and may propose ways to improve medical practices, particularly in terms of prevention, which could be objectively validated by a new prospective study.The implementation of effective public health policies requires a thorough understanding of the health status of target populations. We encourage the development of national and international collaborative studies in deaf people's health.