What is deafblindness?

Deafblindness is a disability in its own right. 

It means you have sight and hearing loss that affects your everyday life. Access to information, communicating with people and getting about on your own can be much more difficult.  

Being deafblind doesn’t necessarily mean you are totally deaf and/or totally blind. Most people who are deafblind have some sight and some hearing. 

Even with mild sight and hearing loss, you’ll still experience challenges because of how having both sight loss and hearing loss affects you. 

The legal definition of deafblindness

In 1995, the Department of Health established a legal definition of deafblindness: 

“A person is regarded as deafblind if their combined sight and hearing impairment cause difficulties with communication, access to information and mobility. This includes people with a progressive sight and hearing loss.”