People who are deafblind use a variety of ways to communicate, depending on their residual sight and hearing. Some people who are deafblind can hear speech, lipread and use sign language. Many of those who can't hear speech or see sufficiently to follow lipreading or visual sign language use some form of tactile communication.

Types of communication

These are some of the methods we use to help communication between people who are hearing and people who are deafblind:

The Deafblind Manual Alphabet

The Deafblind Manual Alphabet involves spelling out words on a person's hand and so it is sometimes called fingerspelling.

The Block Alphabet

The hearing person uses the tip of their forefinger to spell out each word in block capitals on the receiver's palm. This method is most often used when communicating with members of the public, shop assistants and others who are unlikely to be familiar with the Deafblind Manual Alphabet.

Hands-on signing

Some people who were born deaf and then experience sight loss in adult life may continue to use sign language even when they can no longer follow visual signs. This is possible when the listener touches the hands of the person who is signing and follows the movements in this way.

Visual frame signing

When a deafblind person has very limited vision then sign language can still be used but signs have to be adapted and placed according to the person’s visual needs.

For more information about organising communication support for people who are deafblind, please see our factsheet Working with an interpreter or communicator guide. You might also like to look at our factsheet Deafblindness for further general information.