ATLANTA - Mental health advocates filed a federal lawsuit against the state seeking to secure more counselors trained in sign language and funding for group homes for hundreds of deaf residents in need of specialized mental health care.

The lawsuit, which was filed Monday in U.S. District Court in Atlanta, claims the state is failing to provide public health services that are "equally accessible to and culturally and linguistically appropriate for the deaf." It also seeks to boost funding for the "unique therapeutic needs of the deaf."

"There is a mandatory obligation from the state to provide equal access for mental health, and right now the deaf person is a round peg trying to get to the square hole," said Lee Parks, the attorney who filed the lawsuit.

There are about 17,435 deaf residents in Georgia and a fraction of those have "severe" mental needs. State officials say there are 200 or so residents who fit that category, while Parks contends there could be as many as 1,000.

Regardless, Parks said there are only a handful of state mental health counselors who communicate in sign language, and even fewer who understand the unique challenges faced by the deaf community.

State officials contend the lawsuit is unnecessary. They met with the advocates and even drafted a plan to hire more interpreters and a coordinator, but that plan could be derailed by the lawsuit, said Tom Wilson of the Georgia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Disabilities.

"We put together a plan to address this, but lawyers for plaintiffs would rather do this through a lawsuit," said Wilson. "Now we're spending time and resources handling this in court."

But the plaintiffs said they couldn't afford to wait for the state to make mental health a priority. State lawmakers are proposing deep cuts to Georgia's education and social services programs amid declining tax revenues, and advocates said only a lawsuit could force Georgia to pay for specialized counselors.

Gale Belton, for one, said having professionals who are trained in working with deaf patients have helped her daughter Renita, a 25-year-old struggling with depression and other mental illnesses. She said her daughter used her hearing problems as a crutch - until she worked with deaf counselors.

"The deaf staffers would say, 'That doesn't fool me. I'm deaf too.' She can't get anything over on them - it's really wonderful and it's therapeutic," said Belton, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit. "These people understand deaf culture."

Lagging state funding for deaf residents coping with mental health problems led Belton to remodel a house in an attempt to transform it into a group home for the deaf with mental illness, but the venture so far has not proved successful. And she said she is still struggling to get her daughter adequate mental health care.

"I can't believe it takes a federal lawsuit just to do the right thing," said Benton. "They know there's a gap in their program. They just need to be forced to address it."