Deaf and Blind
Some people are both deaf and blind.
Maybe you have already heared of Helen Keller.
Helen Adams Keller was born on 27 June 1880 in Tuscumbia, a small rural town in Northwest Alabama, USA. She was born with full sight and hearing buth when Helen was nineteen months old, she fell ill. And as the result of that she became deaf and blind.
You can read more about her at: Helen Keller in her own words
Communication
It might seem to be impossible for people who are both deaf and blind to communicate, but they can do!!
They can for instance use the deaf blind
manual alphabet
.
With this method you write the signs of the different characters on the persons own hand.
The person can use it themself to express something to you.
Or you can use it to express something to that person.
In the moving image above you can see a type of manual alphabet that is used in the
UK.
If you want to learn to sign for your self, just click on the image and a word document with all the signs will open.
Personal Story
Here is a short story of a man who is both blind and deaf:
"A little info about me, My name is James Gallagher, and I live in the United Kingdom.
I am totally blind and almost profoundly deaf.
I have to wear two powerful hearing aids which are linked up to a piece of equipment called a "hearit".
This equipment which is worn around my neck and is placed on my chest, amplifies the hearing aids which then in turn allows me to hear a little.
If someone wishes to speak to me they have to speak directly into the "hearit".
This method is cumbersome for them and me, but not everyone knows the deafblind manual and without my hearing aids I am totally deaf.
The "hereit" is just for indoor use - when I am outdoors, I need a Guide/Communicator with me.
When I have to go somewhere immediately I can leave my home with my guide dog, her name is Wilma.
The British Guide Dog Association will train a deafblind person with a guide dog. Even though Wilma is my eyes on the road, she can't be my ears as well, so when I am out with her I also wear a device called TAM.
Tam is a lightweight sound monitor for profoundly deaf people.
You wear the Tam like a watch on your left wrist.
It has a very thin wire which is attached to the watch like a band, and the other end of the wire is connected to a small control box which you have clipped on to your jumper or inside pocket.
What does Tam do for me?
Well, the watch band on my wrist is a vibrator which gives me a clear firm vibration when a sound is quite near me, useful for trying to cross a busy road, but if the road is a particular busy one there of course will be quite a lot of noise around, then it's a waiting game for someone to escort you across the road.
Tam is also very useful for wearing indoors as well, as it alerts you when someone enters the room, or when they are trying to communicate to you.
It's a very useful bit of equipment, and one which I constantly use.
I wonder though, what people think when they first meet me and see wires coming out everywhere!
As I said above, I also have a guide dog.
Because she is guiding a deafblind person she has a different color of harness, it's a red and white harness.
In the British Highway Code it specifies that red and white are the colours which should inform drivers on the road that the pedestrian who is standing at the kerb with a red and white cane or a guide dog with a red and white harness is a deafblind person.
This fact is not that readily known - but you know now don't you?
Other countries use different methods to distinguish the difference between blind and deafblind people.
I believe that the Guide Dog Association for the Blind has now withdrawn the red and white harness from use.
I don't understand why this is but they must have a good reason.
My hobby is working with my computers, and learning more about the latest technology advances that are happening almost every day.
After all if it wasn't for the advancement of technology then I wouldn't have been able to create A-Z to Deafblindness on the Net."
You can find more information about this subject at: www.deafblind.com
|
