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Deafblindness is the condition of having little or no useful sight and hearing. As with the word "Deaf", it can be capitalized to indicate that it is a culture; some prefer the spelling "DeafBlind". Deafblind people have an experience quite distinct from people who are only deaf or blind and not both. The best-known deafblind person is the author, activist and lecturer Helen Keller.
Communication Deafblind people communicate in many different ways, determined by the nature of their condition, the age of onset, and what resources are available to them. For example, someone who grew up deaf and experienced vision loss later in life is likely to use a tactile mode of a sign language; others who grew up blind and later acquired deafness are more likely to use a tactile mode of their spoken/written language. Methods of communication include: Causes There are over 70 known causes of deafblindness. Causes can be categorised into two groups: acquired and congenital. Acquired The majority of people with sight and hearing impairments have had both sight and hearing throughout most of their lives, and experienced a loss of those senses through illness, injury or age. According to sense.org.uk, about 4% of people over 60 in the UK have both hearing and vision impairments. Most people with acquired sight and hearing loss retain some useful sight and/or hearing. Some people have congenital deafness and acquired blindness (such as glaucoma or cataracts) or vice-versa. Congenital Children born deaf and blind are described as having congenital deafblindness. This condition may be due to prenatal infection (such as rubella), genetic/chromosomal syndromes (such as Down syndrome), birth trauma or maternal heavy drug and alcohol use. Some congenital conditions will not cause deafblindness until later in life. Sense.org.uk reports that the biggest cause of deafblindness in children in the western world today is 'unknown'. Maternal rubella was once the major cause of deafness and deafblindness in the west, but is now rare due to widespread vaccination programs. Usher syndrome is also a major contributor to deafblindness. It is a genetic condition of people born deaf or hard of hearing, who gradually start to lose their sight. The sight loss usually begins in late childhood and is caused by an eye condition known as Retinitis Pigmentosa. Early symptoms include night blindness and loss of peripheral vision. It affects 3-6% of the people in the UK who were born deaf or partially hearing (sense.org.uk). Deafblind people in history See also | ||||||||
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