The combination of a sight and hearing impairment (deafblindness) is a disability with little understanding. In the UK alone, there are currently around 250,000 deafblind people, yet public awareness of what deafblindness is can be low. Deafblindness affects a person’s ability to communicate, to access all kinds of information, and to get around.
Deafblindness is not just a deaf person who cannot see, or a blind person who cannot hear. The two impairments together increase the effects of each.