Deafblindness

Deafblind American author, activist, and lecturer Helen Keller in 1904

Deafblindness is the condition of little or no useful sight and little or no useful hearing. Deafblind people have an experience quite distinct from people who are only deaf or only blind.

Communication

Deafblind people communicate in many different ways determined by the nature of their condition, the age of onset, and what resources are available to them. For example, someone who grew up deaf and experienced vision loss later in life is likely to use a sign language (in a visually-modified or tactual form). Others who grew up blind and later became deaf are more likely to use a tactile mode of their spoken/written language. Methods of communication include:

• Use of residual hearing (speaking clearly, hearing aids) or sight (signing within a restricted visual field, writing with large print).
• Tactile signing — sign language or a manual alphabet such as the American Manual Alphabet, or DeafBlind Alphabet (also known as "two-hand manual") with tactile or visual modifications.
• Interpreting services (such as sign language interpreters or communication aides)
• Communication devices such as Tellatouch, and its computerized version known as the TeleBraille.

Multisensory methods have been used to help deafblind people enhance their communication skills. These can be taught to very young children with developmental delays (to help with pre-intentional communication), young people with learning difficulties, or older people, including those with dementia. One such process is Tacpac.

Prominent deafblind people

• Francisco Goya (1746–1828): a Spanish painter, deaf and blind by the time of his death.^[1]
• Victorine Morriseau (1789–1832): First deafblind person to be educated in Paris
• James Mitchell (1795–1869): congenitally deafblind son of Scottish minister
• Sanzan Tani (1802–1867): Japanese teacher who became deaf in childhood and blind later in life, communicating with students by touch.
• Hieronymus Lorm (1821–1902): inventor and novelist
• Laura Bridgman (1829–1889): first deafblind child to be successfully educated in the US
• Mary Bradley (?–1866): first deafblind child to be successfully educated in the UK
• Joseph Hague: second deafblind child to be successfully educated in the UK
• Yvonne Pitrois (1880–1937): French biographer
• Helen Keller (1880–1968): author, activist, and lecturer, first deafblind person to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree
• Alice Betteridge (1901–1966): first deafblind Australian to be educated. Teacher, traveller, writer.
• Jack Clemo (1916–1994): British poet who became deafblind as an adult
• Richard Kinney (1924–1979): educator, lecturer, and poet; third deaf-blind person to graduate from an American university; president of the Hadley School for the Blind from 1975 to 1979.^[2]
• Robert Smithdas (1925— ): the first DeafBlind person in the US to receive a master's degree.
• Theresa Poh Lin Chan (1945?— ): Singaporean teacher and writer

See also

• Tadoma
• Usher syndrome
• White cane (used by blind people to assist them in walking)
• Congenital rubella syndrome
• Tommy (rock opera)

References

1. ^ http://www.reviewpainting.com/Francisco-Goya.htm
2. ^ "Notes and News", Bulletin of Prosthetics Research, Fall 1979.

External links

• The Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults
• Sense Scotland - Scottish charity for Deafblindness
• [1] - The Helen Keller International Award, art competition.
• Sense - UK charity for Deafblindness
• Sense International (India), an NGO working with deafblind people
• The Center for Deaf-Blind Persons
• Frequently Asked Questions About DeafBlindness - Detailed info about what it's like to be deafblind (communication, mobility, cultural identity, quality of life, etc.)
• World Federation of the Deafblind
• American Association of the Deaf-Blind
• Sense International (India) - working with Deafblind people in India
• Canadian Deafblind and Rubella Association
• New York Deaf-Blind Collaborative - working with Deaf-blind youth, families, and service providers in New York