Deafblindness

Deafblindness is the condition of having little or no useful sight and hearing. As with the word "Deaf", it can be capitalized to indicate that it is a culture; some prefer the spelling "DeafBlind". Deafblind people have an experience quite distinct from people who are only deaf or blind and not both. The most well known Deafblind person is the author, activist and lecturer Helen Keller.

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 tactile mode of a deaf sign language; others who grew up blind and later acquired deafness 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 visual field).
• Tactile signing — sign language or a manual alphabet with tactile or visual modifications.
• Interpreting services (sign language interpreters).
• Technological communication aides such as Tellatouch.

Causes

There are over 70 known causes of deafblindness^[1]. Causes can be categorised into two groups: acquired and congenital.

Acquired

The majority of people with sight and hearing impairments have had both sight and hearing throughout most of their lives, and experienced a loss of those senses through illness, injury or age. According to sense.org.uk, about 4% of people over 60 in the UK have both hearing and vision impairments. Most people with acquired sight and hearing loss retain some useful sight and/or hearing. Some people have congenital deafness and acquired blindness (such as glaucoma or cataracts) or vice-versa.

Congenital

Children born deaf and blind are described as having congenital deafblindness. This condition may be due to prenatal infection (such as rubella), genetic/chromosomal syndromes (such as Down syndrome), birth trauma or maternal heavy drug and alcohol use. Some congenital conditions will not cause deafblindness until later in life. Sense.org.uk reports that the biggest cause of deafblindness in children in the western world today is 'unknown'. Maternal rubella was once the major cause of deafness and deafblindness in the west, but is now rare due to widespread vaccination programs.

Usher syndrome is also a major contributor to deafblindness. It is a genetic condition of people born deaf or hard of hearing, who gradually start to lose their sight. The sight loss usually begins in late childhood and is caused by an eye condition known as Retinitis Pigmentosa. Early symptoms include night blindness and loss of peripheral vision. It affects 3-6% of the people in the UK who were born deaf or partially hearing (sense.org.uk).

Deafblind people in history

• Hieronymous Lorm (19th century) - inventor and novelist
• Sanzan Tani (1802-1867)
• Laura Bridgman (1829-1889) - first deafblind child to be successfully educated in the US
• Mary Bradley (time and place of birth not known, died in 1866)
• Julia Brace (1807-1884)
• Eliza Cooter (1841-1860)
• Robert Dewar (1860-1877)
• Yvonne Pitrois (1880-1937) - French biographer
• Helen Keller (1880-1968) - author, activist and lecturer
• 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
• Robert Smithdas (1925- ) - the first DeafBlind person in the US to receive a master's degree.
• Georgia Griffith (circa 1930- )
• John J. Boyer (1936- )
• Richard Kinney (?-?) — Educator, lecturer and poet; president of the Hadley School for the Blind from 1975 to 1979.
• Danny Delcambre (1959- )

See also

• Tadoma
• Usher Syndrome
• White cane - in the UK, a white cane with two red bands signifies the person is Deafblind.
• Congenital rubella syndrome

External links

• Frequently Asked Questions About DeafBlindness - Detailed info about what it's like to be deafblind (communication, mobility, cultural identity, quality of life, etc.)
• http://www.wfdb.org — World Federation of the Deafblind
• Nalaga'at (Hebrew: "Do Touch") - deafblind theater group
• A-Z to Deafblindness
• Deafblind Triplet Daughters
• What is Deaf-Blindness?
• Fact sheet from Sense in the UK about deaf-blind communication
• Deafblind Manual Alphabet
• Deaf Blind Education News
• Block Alphabet
• Orientation to deaf blind - a good overview of deafblindness
• Resources for working with Deafblind people - an excellent collection of links and resources

References

1. ^  http://www.sense.org.uk/deafblindness/allcauses.htm - a complete list of causes of deafblindness

This medical article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it.

http://www.deafblindinfo.org/FAQ.asp