• Congenital deafblindness
• Acquired deafblindness

Congenital deafblindness

People who are born with hearing and sight impairment may display any of the following characteristics:

• no response to sound and / or light
• tactile defensiveness - avoiding touch (children - especially younger children)
• problems with eye contact or social participation at an early age
• slowness in developing and generalising skills (children)
• adopting an unusual posture for undertaking tasks - using residual hearing or sight eccentrically (children)
• difficulty in making sense of the world around them
• developmental delay
• personalised methods of communication
• repetitive behaviour
• behaviour likely to harm themselves or others
• withdrawal / isolation
• use of smell, taste, touch to gain information

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Acquired deafblindness

People who acquire a hearing and sight impairment later in life may display any combination of the following characteristics:

Hearing

• non-response when you speak from behind
• need for the television / radio / stereo to be louder than is comfortable for others
• difficulty following speech with unfamiliar people or accents
• difficulty following changes of speaker during conversation
• lack of awareness of noises outside immediate environment, for example: building works, traffic noise
• tendency to withdraw from social interaction
• use of hearing aids, loop system and so on
• complaints that everyone mumbles or speaks too quickly

Sight

• need for additional lighting
• lack of awareness that you have changed position
• inability to find things when placed in an unfamiliar position
• unusual use of touch to support mobility or task
• difficulties caused by changes in light levels
• difficulties with unfamiliar routes or places