How do blind and deaf people learn anything?
Often people who are deaf and blind are not completely deaf or blind – so they may use the same methods either blind or deaf people use depending on what their dominant sense is. There is a special method of signing that is signed into the hand. There is also a method of understanding & learning speech by holding your hand along the side of the face of a person talking to you. And a person can also learn to use Braille. A person who is deafblind can learn to navigate using a white cane like other people who are blind. A person who is deafblind can actually learn as much and as well as anyone else – just differently and with far more support.
Deafblind people (if they’re completely deaf and blind, no risiduals) will learn to communicate with finger spelling… or sign language done in the hand of the person you’re talking to. Later in life, they will learn their blind skills like reading braille, using a computer with a braille display, and using a white cane. If the person has some risidual hearing they may use hearing aids and learn to mimic speach the way hearing people and partially deaf people do. I have a deafblind friend who is very good on a laptop with a braille display. He’s usually a lot more comfortable talking to people online because he always knows what they’re saying and never has to worry about his hearing being a problem. He made it all the way through four years of college and graduated with great marks. It is possible, and common for deafblind people to learn as much and as well as anyone else. Just by using alternative methods.
