Moves are afoot in the Eastern Cape and nationally to bridge the educational fissure into which people who are both deaf and visually impaired fall.
There are at least 920,000 deafblind people in South Africa but how many of them live in the Eastern Cape is unknown, according to Eastern Cape deafblind representative Tim Stones.
Stones said a little known fact was that most people who are deafblind have some useful remaining hearing and sight.
“As there are no schools in South Africa specifically for deafblind children, they find themselves ramrodded into either schools for the deaf, or schools for the blind. The impact of this is that one of the dual sensory impairments is ignored. This is yet another barrier, this time imposed by the very system designed to support and foster their progress,” Stones said.
“Even if both the vision and the hearing loss are mild, the combination of both impairments make deafblindness a challenging and unique disability.
“With assistive technology, the deafblind person can live a relatively independent life. However, for most, the experience of life with dual sensory impairment can be utterly isolating.”
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Image: SUPPLIED
Moves are afoot in the Eastern Cape and nationally to bridge the educational fissure into which people who are both deaf and visually impaired fall.
There are at least 920,000 deafblind people in South Africa but how many of them live in the Eastern Cape is unknown, according to Eastern Cape deafblind representative Tim Stones.
Stones said a little known fact was that most people who are deafblind have some useful remaining hearing and sight.
“As there are no schools in South Africa specifically for deafblind children, they find themselves ramrodded into either schools for the deaf, or schools for the blind. The impact of this is that one of the dual sensory impairments is ignored. This is yet another barrier, this time imposed by the very system designed to support and foster their progress,” Stones said.
“Even if both the vision and the hearing loss are mild, the combination of both impairments make deafblindness a challenging and unique disability.
“With assistive technology, the deafblind person can live a relatively independent life. However, for most, the experience of life with dual sensory impairment can be utterly isolating.”
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A deafblind national conference will take place in November at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg.
Deafblind SA national director Philip Dobson, with his interpreter, Ronel Maree, came to East London in September to run an information session at the Meander Inn, in Selborne.
The organisation hopes those who attended will establish an Eastern Cape branch of Deafblind SA, with a focus on identifying deafblind people in the province and working with local service providers to provide this community with better support and life opportunities.
Deafblind SA was started on July 26 1996 by a group of Deafblind people and professionals.
Stones said the organisation hoped to break through the isolation that arises from the communication barriers that many deafblind people experience.
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