Families
People with deafblindness usually require ongoing, and sometimes extensive, support to participate in life. This depends on the level of their sensory impairment.
For people with severe vision and hearing impairment, tactile communication such as fingerspelling is used. Others with less severe vision and/or hearing impairment will use a wide array of communication options, including:
- Braille
- Cochlear implants/hearing aids with speech
- Sign language
- Tadoma (tactile lip reading)
- Morse code
- Object symbols (eg, being presented with a sponge means having a bath)
Many people have heard of Helen Keller, of the USA, who is believed to be the first deafblind person to receive an education. Helen went on to earn a college degree and travelled extensively throughout the world, including to Australia.
Australia has its own Helen Keller – Alice Betteridge, who attended RIDBC in the early 1900s.
