Fill in the Gaps > Too many older people who are deafblind ... - Sense

deafdeafblindblindWhat is deafblindness?Definitions of deafblindness tend not to focus on the degree ofdeafness or blindness a person has, but rather on the effect ofthe combined loss on everyday life – how it affects their ability tocommunicate, to get around and to access all kinds of information.Deafblindness is not just a deaf person who cannot see or a blindperson who cannot hear. The two impairments impact on eachother and multiply the total effect.One deafblind person describes it like this:“If you think of deafness as the colour yellow and blindnessas the colour blue, when you mix the two together you don’tget yellow-blue but a completely different colour – green.”How it affects older peopleDeafblindness affects different people in different ways. Whencommunication is limited, people become socially and emotionallyisolated. When people can’t get around by themselves it affectstheir confidence, independence and daily living skills. Withoutaccess to information, people can’t make informed decisions andthis leads to further loss of independence. These are commonexperiences for older deafblind people.Older People’s social work teams can do a great deal to help olderdeafblind people. See page 15 for information on how to makethis happen.A combination ofvisual and hearingimpairment willmultiply the difficultiesan individual faces.For example…• If you are deaf or hard ofhearing and can’t hear whatsomeone is saying, youwatch their lips and facialexpressions for extra clues.But if you also become blindor partially sighted, howwill you understand what isbeing said?• If you are a blind orpartially sighted personwho is used to travellingindependently, you dependon your hearing. But if youbecome deaf or hard ofhearing and can’t hear orsee the traffic, how will youknow when it’s safe to crossthe road?• If you can no longereasily see or hear thetelevision, listen tothe radio, read yourletters, use the phone orengage in conversationyou become isolatedfrom people, eventsand society. Thissensory deprivationcan lead to extremelevels of boredom,stress, depression andwithdrawal.3