Empirical Article Deafblind People, Communication, Independence, and Isolation

This paper discusses issues related to communication, inde-pendence, and isolation for an understudied group of deaf peo-ple who also have visual impairments. The discussion is based on the experiences of 28 deafblind people in 6 different coun-tries, obtained from interviews that were carried out as part of a larger research project on travel issues. However, the similarities in experiences between countries were stronger than the differ-ences. In particular, barriers to communication and inadequate support, with resulting problems of isolation and depression, were found in all the countries. Equally, deafblind people in all the countries were interested in being involved in and con-tributing to society and supporting other people, particularly through organizations of blind and deafblind people. This runs counter to the tendency to present deafblind and other disabled people purely as recipients of support rather than also as activ