What is deafblindness?The Department of Health describes deafblindness, or dual sensory impairment, in broad terms:
Persons are regarded as deafblind if their combined sight and hearing impairment cause difficulties with
These difficulties are vast when you consider that some people can be:
The majority of deafblind people are over the age of 60 and come into the last group above.
The needs of all these groups are very different, especially people born deaf or prelingually deaf, with the consequent difficulties of developing language and speech.
Deafblindness is a distinct impairment that is more than 'just' the loss of your vision and hearing. It is a unique impairment. The impact of a dual loss is significantly different from a single loss as the individual's ability to compensate is greatly reduced.
Just as the coping strategies and skills required by each deafblind individual are different, so are the support services they require.
In March 2001 the Department of Health issued Social Care for Deafblind Children and Adults - LAC (2001) 8 under Section 7 of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. Although referred to as 'Guidance' this circular has placed new statutory duties on all local authorities.
The new responsibilities of Devon County Council are to:
The definition of deafblindness above means that anyone who has both a hearing loss and a sight loss that cause them problems in everyday life is covered by the new guidance. People do not have to be completely deaf and blind.
Further information on the implementation can be found in Social Care for Children and Adults: a practical guide, produced by Sense. 
(871KB - pdf help)
The Devon Sensory Team has a wide range of experience in working with deafblind people and all rehabilitation and social workers are trained to undertake assessments.
The majority of deafblind people in Devon are elderly and have lost their sight and hearing progressively. Where people are agreeable, their names are entered on Devon’s record of people who are deafblind. It is intended that such information will be used for future planning purposes.
Given the latest definitions of deafblindness above, that record will grow steadily and will include some people with complex needs who may require a range of specialist services.
The Sensory Team does not employ a deafblind specialist due to expertise within the team. In some instances specialist rehabilitation workers for the visually impaired and hearing impaired work together to ensure that specific needs arising from dual sensory loss are identified and action taken. This way of working is not uncommon across the UK and is generally well accepted by the relevant national organisations.
Increasingly, as the needs of deafblind people are recognised, support services will emerge. Staff in health and social care services are being encouraged, through awareness training, to identify people and make their needs known. Devon has trained guide communicators who work directly with deafblind people to facilitate their safe access to information and everyday facilities to promote independence. The intention is to make this service more uniformly available across Devon.
Independent communication support in various forms, including the deafblind manual, is also available to give deafblind people access to the services they need e.g. health services. Similarly, every effort is made to ensure Social Services literature is available in a variety of formats, and access to staff and services generally is made as easeful as possible.
The Sensory Team has also developed ‘centres’ with other organisations where individuals or organisations can seek information, advice and guidance on a variety of matters relating to sensory loss including equipment to aid daily living. Further information on those ‘centres’ is available on these sensory web pages.
The Devon Sensory Team at:
e-mail: sensory@devon.gov.uk
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