National Center on Deaf-Blindness Michael Fagbemi Project Specialist.

National Center on Deaf-BlindnessMichael FagbemiProject Specialist

Who Do You Think of When You Hear the term Deaf-Blind ?

Is the first person that comes to mind Helen Keller ?

Who is a student with deaf-blindness?A three-year-old boy who is totally blind has a moderate-

severe hearing loss, apparently normal motor and intellectual abilities, is just beginning to walk on his own, but has not yet learned any expressive language.

A six-year-old with congenital rubella syndrome who is profoundly deaf, partially sighted, and has behavior disorders attributed to an attention deficit disorder. Intelligence estimates are that she is severely developmentally delayed.

A 16-year-old girl with profound deafness, visual impairment, and severe cerebral palsy affecting all four limbs. Her intelligence cannot be accurately assessed because of lack of motoric functioning and absence of any consistent accessible language input during the course of her life. She has no apparent receptive or expressive language skills.

Some Deaf-Blindness Statistics80-95% of information comes to us through our

vision and hearing Up to 80% of children with hearing and vision

loss also have other disabilities About 200 different conditions are associated

with vision and hearing losses- over half are genetic.

Estimates indicate that there are approximately 40,000 people in the United States who are Deaf-Blind. A study by the National Census has identified over 10,000 children and youth.

Parents discuss their child experience of deaf-Blindness

Video clip :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQu3dufotPM

A person who is deaf-blind is challenged with:Disability of access :

InformationConcept

development Incidental learningLimited life

experiencesLower expectations Physical spaces

Disability of Access :

PeopleIsolation FriendshipsRapports communicationLanguage

National Center on Deaf-Blindness – a consortium approach

The Deaf-Blind Network

National Center as the Hub..

New website!

www.nationaldb.org

Recent products you might like

www.nationaldb.org /literacy

Transition Toolkit

Thank you !!!!

Contact information :

Michael Fagbemi –[email protected]

www.nationaldb.org