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Dual Sensory Impairment

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Communication

People with a dual sensory impairment may use adapted or different communication methods that are appropriate for their hearing and vision loss, or they may choose to learn new or adapted communication methods to enable them to talk to and receive information from others. Here are some examples that people may use:

Distance Communication

• Voice phone
• Text phone
• Video phone

Hard Copy Communication

• Large print / clear writing (letter, fax)
• Braille
• Moon - an adapted form of raised lettering
• E-mail - possibly in a large, clear font
• Computer text file
• Audio tape or CD
• Video tape

One-to-one Communication

• British Sign Language
• Close signing
• Visual Frame signing - within the area that the person can focus on best
• Co-active signing through touch, to ‘feel’ the signs
• Computer Aided Transcription (CAT)
• Tadoma - feeling vibrations of speech by touching the speaker’s throat
• Block Alphabet - tracing out letters to make words on the palm of the deafblind person’s hand
• Deafblind Manual Alphabet - similar to Block, spelling words onto the hand (there may be adapted signs for some letters)
• Large print / writing
• Speech
• Objects of Reference e.g. a fork to indicate dinner, or a shopping bag to indicate a shopping trip.

Communication Do’s and Don’ts

These suggestions can make it easier to communicate with a person with a dual sensory impairment:

• Do touch the person on the shoulder before communicating
• Do be patient
• Do ask the person what communication is best for them
• Do face the person
• Do try to have light on your face, e.g. face the window or light source
• Do keep your face in view – don’t obstruct with hands or turn away
• Do slow down a bit
• Do check that the person understands what you are saying
• Do try to keep background noise to a minimum
• Do try to plan what you are saying, keep sentences short if possible
• Don’t shout or exaggerate your voice / lip pattern
• Don’t wear brightly coloured / distracting clothes
• If using writing to communicate, write clearly and with capital letters. Check that the size of the writing is appropriate for the person
• Do speak clearly, and at a level that is suitable for the person.

Making the most of remaining vision / hearing

• Good lighting - avoid glare or flicker – ‘daylight’ bulbs are sometimes useful, or natural light
• Strong contrasting colours - to assist identification of crockery, skirting boards, and door handles etc.
• No loose trailing wires, loose carpets to trip over
• Don’t move furniture around - put objects back where they were
• Use simple coded labelling that the person can understand -mark tins, drawers, door handles
• Speak directly to the face of the dual sensory impaired/deafblind person, keep your head still and don’t look away when speaking. Keep pens and fingers away from face.
• Start sentences by stating the subject that you will be talking about
• Keep relaxed and patient. If all else fails, write things down. You may need to write in large print, depending on the individual’s level of vision impairment
• If you have a dual sensory impairment, don’t be afraid to tell people how severe it is, or what others need to do to aid communication with you.