font by: http://www.deafblind.com/info-db.html
Information About Deafblindness.

The Deafblind Manual Alphabet.

Hello There,

It's James here,

I would like to welcome you to this page of A-Z to Deafblindness, And thank you for being interested in finding out more about us,
A special welcome to fellow deafblind people, blind, and of course our deaf friends as well.

By coming to this particular page you must be interested in learning how we, the deafblind, communicate with each other,
and to our family and friends and to the hearing seeing world which we all live in.

I sincerely hope that with the information which is below you will, at the end of this page, become more aware about deafblindness,
and perhaps you may have learned how to communicate to a deafblind person, or a deaf person when you meet them.

A little info about me, My name is James Gallagher, and I live in the United Kingdom.

I am totally blind and almost profoundly deaf. I have to wear two powerful hearing aids which are linked up to a piece of equipment
called a "hearit". This equipment which is worn around my neck and is placed on my chest, amplifies the hearing aids which then in
turn allows me to hear a little.
If someone wishes to speak to me they have to speak directly into the "hearit". This method is cumbersome for them and me, but not
everyone knows the deafblind manual and without my hearing aids I am totally deaf.

The "hereit" is just for indoor use - when I am outdoors, I need a Guide/Communicator with me. When I have to go somewhere
immediately I can leave my home with my guide dog, her name is Wilma. The British Guide Dog Association will train a deafblind
person with a guide dog. Even though Wilma is my eyes on the road, she can't be my ears as well, so when I am out with her I also wear
a device called TAM.

Tam is a lightweight sound monitor for profoundly deaf people. You wear the Tam like a watch on your left wrist. It has a very thin wire
which is attached to the watch like a band, and the other end of the wire is connected to a small control box which you have clipped on
to your jumper or inside pocket.

What does Tam do for me? Well, the watch band on my wrist is a vibrator which gives me a clear firm vibration when a sound is quite
near me, useful for trying to cross a busy road, but if the road is a particular busy one there of course will be quite a lot of noise around,
then it's a waiting game for someone to escort you across the road. Tam is also very useful for wearing indoors as well, as it alerts you when
someone enters the room, or when they are trying to communicate to you. It's a very useful bit of equipment, and one which I constantly
use. I wonder though, what people think when they first meet me and see wires coming out everywhere!

As I said above, I also have a guide dog. Because she is guiding a deafblind person she has a different colour of harness, it's a red and white
harness. In the British Highway Code it specifies that red and white are the colours which should inform drivers on the road that the
pedestrian who is standing at the kerb with a red and white cane or a guide dog with a red and white harness is a deafblind person. This fact
is not that readily known - but you know now don't you? Other countries use different methods to distinguish the difference between blind
and deafblind people. I believe that the Guide Dog Association for the Blind has now withdrawn the red and white harness from use.
I don't understand why this is but they must have a good reason.

My hobby is working with my computers, and learning more about the latest technology advances that are happening almost every day.
After all if it wasn't for the advancement of technology then I wouldn't have been able to create A-Z to Deafblindness on the Net.
For you the equipment that is sitting on your desk in front of you is just a metal frame with some plastic around it and some boards that are
within the unit.

For me however, computers are my GATEWAY to the outside world. Like many other deafblind and blind people on the Net, I can access
information, such as the newspapers, magazines, especially PC magazines, but they just usually give little extracts from a PC magazine,
although that's better than nothing. There are also many great archives of the great classic books on the Net. You may be saying to yourself
so what, but to people like myself who cannot have access to such material it's great. The Net to us is like our public library, and it is our
corner shop to get our newspapers as well.

I have been on the Net for well over Ten years now. I have taught myself all about computers, but am still learning more and more every day.

Some people find it very hard to believe that people like myself are capable of creating and maintaining a web site. I made A-Z to
Deafblindness on my own without the help of anyone. I also own another web site about Deafblindness called "A Deafblindness Web
Resource". The URL to the site is http://www.deafblind.co.uk. As you can now guess, I do keep myself busy and the old brain going.

Sometimes people can only see a person's disability, They are blinding themselves with their own prejudices, A person's true strength is
within them,

So if you are a deafblind person or blind person reading this page, then come on and try and put a website on the Net, There are many of us
out there who have done just that.

Now for the information which you have visited A-Z to Deafblindness for.

Deafblindness is sometimes known as dual sensory impairment or multi-sensory impairment and is more than a combination of visual and
hearing impairments.

Deafblind people may not be totally deaf and totally blind. Many of the UK's 23,000 deafblind people have some remaining hearing and
vision. Some, though, have nearly complete loss of both senses.

95% of what we learn about ourselves and the world around us comes through our sight and hearing. Lacking these two "distance senses",
deafblind people find that their mobility, communication and access to information is usually greatly affected.

We often need the services of our local deafblind organizations. These could be Deafblind UK, or The National Deafblind and Rubella
Association, (SENSE) when we have to attend a doctors appointment or visit family, friends, or attend meetings of any sort or even just
shopping.
Enter here for Deafblind organizations and groups in Britain.

One of the many resources which the above organizations provide for us is the guide/communicator. This is a very important service, as a guide/communicator is our eyes and ears when we are out together, They can communicate with a deafblind person either with the
deafblind manual or by speech, or if the deafblind person has some sight then they can communicate with British Sign Language ( BSL),
but the majority of deafblind people use the deafblind manual.
If you want to learn more about the Deafblind Manual or learn how it works then enter here.
It's quite easy to learn, so come on and give it a try. [...]

for the entire article, clik http://www.deafblind.com/info-db.html

Braille Alphabet

British sign language and Italian sign language