This section of Deafblind Information Australia is dedicated to the stories of people living with vision and hearing impairments – whether from the perspective of the individual, their family or one of their carers right through to the teachers, therapists and the wider community involved in someone’s life.

It may be their experience and their personal achievements.  It may also be about their frustration or their difficulties in accessing what they need to fulfil their life choices. More often than not, the personal journey that is documented is more powerful than a library of text books.

You may choose to write a short article, you may want to add a captioned photograph or upload video footage.

Note to readers: Sometimes words or images can cause sadness, distress, or trigger traumatic memories. For some people, these responses can be overwhelming. Support is available. For immediate options in Australia contact Lifeline or Beyond Blue. For less immediate, but longer term peer and therapeutic supports, there are also Deafblind specific support groups and services. See Deafblind Information Australia Support Groups webpage and Deafblind Information Australia Find Services webpage

Oscar

After a restless night, with what we thought was the first signs of teething, our 6 and a half month old baby boy was lying on the couch, very quiet and still.

Learn more about Oscar

Leisa

Imagine growing up hearing impaired and doing your best to keep up with the normal hearing kids.

Learn more about Leisa

Linda

I was born in Auckland New Zealand on June 12th 1962 with the same congenital eye disease my brother had. I have optic atrophy.

Learn more about Linda

• Elizabeth

  Lil Martin has experienced deteriorating sight and hearing for a number of years.

• Alex

  Alex wanted to share his experiences about when he attended the Senses Deafblind camp in November 2012.

• Carol

  Carol enjoyed the deaf/blind camping & loved it very much. Please read her story…

• Wilma

  After five years in a special school for the hard of hearing, after changing schools, AT LAST I was allowed to take piano lessons!!!!!

• Alessia

  My beautiful baby girl, Alessia arrived at 8:21pm on Monday February 19, 2007. She was beautiful; but something was way wrong, very wrong.

• Eddie

  I was born profoundly deaf in 1965 and I have Usher Syndrome which has resulted in me having impaired vision since the age of 20.

• Chris

  Chris from Coburg, Victoria wanted to say…

• Linda – deafblind camp

  Last year in November, when I attended the deafblind camp in Perth I loved it so much I decided then and there that I wanted to go to the Melbourne one.

  So I booked. i got cold feet and nearly didn’t go but then about a week or so beforehand I found my enthusiasm for it again.

• Joseph

  Please read if you want to know more about me!

• Kirsty

  Hi my name is Kirsty.

• Cochlear Implant Surgery – A lived experience

  A cochlear implant is a surgically implanted electronic device that provides a sense of sound, to a person who has a severe to profound hearing loss or a moderate to profound sensorineural hearing loss.

• Edan

  Edan Chapman was born with the rare genetic disorder known as Usher syndrome. He is – and always has been – profoundly Deaf. Now he is going slowly blind from retinitis pigmentosa. This is part one of a two-part story on Edan Chapman’s battle with Ushers.

• Deb – my new home

  In March 1999 I first moved out of home to my own place in Maylands.  I liked living in my own place, I have support from DSC once a week to go shopping and some cooking.