Deafblindness (or dual-sensory-impairment) is an unique disability which brings enormous challenges to the individual and those who support them.
Deafblindness has many causes. It affects people of all ages in different ways, and no two deafblind people are the same.
Many people will not be totally deaf and totally blind but will have some remaining use of one or both senses. Others will also have additional physical and/or learning disabilities as well.
Deafblindness has many causes and the challenge it brings are often more than just a combination of visual and hearing impairments.
When someone is born with combined sight and hearing difficulties this is called congenital deafblindness. Examples of this includes conditions such as Rubella or CHARGE.
If they develop these problems later in life, this is called acquired deafblindness. This may be due to a accident, illness or as a result of aging in later life..
In some cases, people may be born with a genetic condition such as Usher Syndrome, which may mean that they progressively lose their sight and hearing.
People who are deafblind use many different methods of communication. The method chosen will depend upon the amount of residual sight and hearing remaining, the cause of deafblindness and how long the person has had a sensory impairment.
Of course, some deafblind people use a combination of methods to communicate.
PACER Center
Parent Advocacy Coalition for Educational Rights
The following links are from the PACER Center Web site at
http://www.pacer.org/links/national/disability.htm