About Deafblindness

Stories

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 sits propped on the floor, wearing blue flannel pyjamas

Oscar

November 1 2010.  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.

 leisa

Leisa

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

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.

 Close up photo of Elizabeth's face. She has a short blond/grey hairstyle, rosy cheeks and is smiling.

Elizabeth

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

 Alex is sitting playing a djembe drum. He is wearing sunglasses, grey pants, a green t-shirt and name tag.

Alex

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

 Chris and Carol are standing together. Chris is wearing a cap, sunglasses, and a yellow and black striped t-shirt. Carol is wearing a cap, sunglasses, black t-shirt and a nametag. They are smiling.

Carol

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

 Wilma is sitting in her living room playing a keyboard. There is sheet music for her to read. She has short hair and is wearing glasses, a blue shirt and blue pants.

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 is a young girl sitting in a wheelchair. She is wearing brown shorts and top with floral pattern. She has brown hair with a clip.

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 is standing in a garage in front of an old, dark red car. He is wearing black shoes, blue jeans, a black t-shirt and beige cardigan. He has facial hair and is bald. He is smiling at the camera.

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.