Deafblind Awareness Week runs from 27th June – 3rd July and the charity Deafblind UK is encouraging us to get “in the know” about deafblindness, during the week so we can all be more deafblind aware.
During Deafblind Awareness Week, Deafblind UK will be showcasing lesser known facts and information about deafblindness, to help those who don’t know much about it understand more.
Steve Conway, CEO of Deafblind UK said: “Deafblindness affects people in all walks of life and in many different ways. But it is still something that many people don’t know much about. This Deafblind Awareness Week we want to help everyone to understand what deafblindness is – and what it’s not! We would love people to use this week to learn more about deafblindness. Let’s start to educate each other and normalise the conversation around sight and hearing loss.”
Deafblindness is a combined sight and hearing impairment. It doesn’t always mean no sight or hearing, although for some people this is the case. It affects around 450,000 people in the UK and it affects everyone differently, some people need to make small changes to the way they go about everyday life and some people will rely on others for communication and getting about.
Asia is a 23 year old Graphic Designer from Hatfield. She is also deafblind. She said: “I am severely deaf. I have around 10º of peripheral vision and pretty much no hope of seeing anything if it’s even slightly dark. Those winter months when the sun has set by 5pm are the absolute worst. I’m also fairly tall, at about 5’11”, which means that when I’m standing, I literally can’t see the floor. Small children, tiny dogs and wet floor signs are essentially invisible to me unless I’m looking for them!
“The lack of awareness around deafblindness is a huge challenge in itself. I frequently get told that I don’t “look” deafblind – whether that’s because I don’t use a long cane or guide dog yet, because I use speech rather than sign language, or just because I’m “too young” to be deafblind. It’s a common misconception that “deaf” means completely deaf, “blind” or “visually impaired” means completely blind, or that “deafblindness” is an older person’s condition. It’s a huge spectrum, and even people with the exact same condition may be affected differently.
“It’s so important to talk about and normalise the conversation around deafblindness. As a society, we need to erase the unnecessary stigma surrounding it and, instead, work towards raising awareness. My story is just one of hundreds of thousands of stories, and they’re all wildly different. There aren’t enough hours in the day to tell every story or to explore every variation of every condition, but something is better than nothing.”
There are lots of different ways you can take part in Deafblind Awareness Week – from sharing our videos to learning how to make life easier for people with sight and hearing loss. But whatever you do, try to learn something new about deafblindness!
Online resources are available on our website. Follow #DeafblindAwarenessWeek
For support call: 0800 132320 or email: [email protected].
