This month is a special month leading up to the 27th of June. The 27th of June – is a day where many people remembering Helen Keller, and today is called Helen Keller Day. Helen Keller Day is a commemorative holiday to celebrate the birth of Helen Keller, observed on June 27 annually. The holiday observance was created by presidential proclamation in 2006 and by international organisations, particularly those helping the blind and the deaf. 

Not many people, even children, know about Deafblind people/children in their society because they have not encountered them yet or have not thought about other disabled people.

What about your senior D/deaf people becoming blind or blind people becoming deaf? What about people/children with other disabilities who will develop blind and deaf? It will be more challenging for them with any new disability?

It is not too late to learn something new before the condition kicks in or slowly develops in the body. So yes, I understand it may come a bit of shock if you or I am starting to realise what if you or I will become deafblind in the later years. I am a deaf blogger, historian and researcher, advocator, and specialised community worker to many people/children with disabilities, D/deaf people, and families with disabled children. Several years back (around in the late 1990s), I was approached by a senior couple and her husband was Deafblind, and they use tactile sign language to communicate with each other and their family members. They asked me to join the group – Deafblind group in Waikato. So I visited this group, and I realised a gap within the community, such as the need for help in tactile sign language, getting information from the Waikato Hospital, the need for home helps, and goes list goes on. I noticed a lady I have seen before, and I recalled that she was a teacher aide for Deaf and disabled children at the primary school in Hamilton. I was surprised that this person is deafblind. But she was lucky to have the skill in sign language when she was a teacher aide.

Here is the video clip from the television programme called “Able Australia.” This video will give you the tools to communicate their experience around home and family when meeting any Deafblind people in the community.

I met a few Deaf people, and they do not realise that many Deaf people with other disabilities are out there. Because they (Deaf people) do not think about it or do not understand the difference between one kind of disability like CP (Cerebral Palsy) to another kind of disability like mental illness, arthritis etc. In the Deaf community, we have a small group called Usher group where most Deaf people know a couple of friends who have usher, but these Deaf friends are starting to understand better than before.

There are certain important things to remember when meeting Deafblind people/children, which varies from birth to losing eyesight from time to time, such as Retinal Disorders, e.g. Macular degeneration, Diabetic retinopathy. I am trying to explain that anyone born blind and never experience seeing colours, landscape, people/children from day one. In contrast, other people/children develop losing eyesight and limit colours, landscape, people, and even animals. What about the deaf? Anyone born deaf (as well blind as I mentioned above) does not experience sounds. Later on, any persons gradually lose their hearing loss, lose some of their experience such as having the conversation.

Here is one of the video which screened on Television by Attitude programme several years ago and a Deafblind woman called Heather and she shared her experience with good family times, struggled to overcome the barriers around her home and the environment, communicate with the people, suffered from depression and how she is using technology to help herself around.

During the COVID-19, there were huge barriers where their support workers like personal home help for showering stopping come to their home in the rural due to the lack of PPE’s and the lack of information on the continuing to have personal showering or getting the groceries. Many of them live in the rural and coastal area does not have internet or broadband access even nothing in New Zealand. I was fortunate to continue to work through lockdown from late April to November 2019 as an essential worker. Unfortunately, the DPA’s and DPO’s came too late due to trying to sort out the problem through the Government until May-June-July. I worked 24/7 hours a week communicating with the Civil Defense, Social Services, Social Media and many other contact networks from late April 2019. In Hamilton, a band of Social Service staff runs many Food Parcel/service set up a large place where anyone can drop off foods and drinks there as part of the donation to isolated people with disabilities, Deafblind people and of course, older people with disabilities in their own homes, not in the rest homes. Thanks to Skinny Jump for making Broadband available to several Deafblind people and Deaf people. I made contact with them in Hamilton via Social Service.

There is no actual number of how many Deafblind people living in New Zealand; according to the website “Blind Low Vision NZ, there are approximately 800 members where their Deafblind Coordinators visit around New Zealand. There are more Deafblind older people out there, and they do not want to be involved with the Deafblind Service. If the next census come through, I suggest using the Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG), which is stronger. “The Washington Group on Disability Statistics (WG) promotes and coordinates international cooperation in the area of health statistics focusing on the development of disability measures suitable for census and national surveys.” Through my training course through Commonwealth Disabled People’s Forum recently, I learnt this area, and now I am a member of this as a deaf advocator. The previous census result in New Zealand does not provide enough information and the lack of people with disabilities in the statistics because the questions were too poor.