It may seem that deaf-blindness refers to a total inability to see or hear. However, in reality deaf-blindness is a condition in which there is a combination of visual and hearing impairments along a continuum. Many children called deaf-blind have enough vision to be able to move about in their environments, recognize familiar people, see sign language at close distances, and perhaps read large print. Others have sufficient hearing to recognize familiar sounds, understand some speech, or develop speech themselves. This definition includes all children birth through age 21.
Some people are deaf-blind from birth.
Still others may be born with both sight and hearing, but lose some or all of these senses as a result of accident or illness. Other learners may have no usable vision or hearing. Some may have additional challenges, including physical, cognitive, and emotional disabilities. Although learners who are deaf-blind are a heterogenous population, they all share communication challenges and the potential isolating effects of combined vision and hearing losses. Deaf blindness is not the sum total of a vision loss plus a hearing loss.