Deafblindness is the loss of sight and hearing to the point where your communication, mobility and ability to access information are impacted. This includes progressive sight and hearing loss, where your sight and hearing deteriorates over a period of time.
Deafblindness is often also referred to as ‘dual sensory loss’ or ‘dual sensory impairment’.
People affected by deafblindness include those:
- Born deafblind, congenitally deafblind, or those with Ushers Syndrome or CHARGE syndrome
- Born deaf who later lose their vision
- Born blind who later lose their hearing
- Who acquire a sight and hearing loss later in life.
For older people, deafblindness may be seen as part of the aging process and people can therefore fail to acknowledge the impact this has on their lives.
The impact of deafblindness differs for each individual. They may benefit from specialist support from trained professionals, who have an understanding of the impact of deafblindness.