Introduction
Your students will receive a warm welcome to the National Centre for Deafblindness, a totally accessible environment that contains design features never before seen in one building. The students will be given a brief introduction to the National Centre and deafblindness by an educational co-ordinator before embarking on their designated activity.
Activity 2: Talking to a deafblind person.
Students are taught the deafblind manual, a tactile form of communication. Having familiarised themselves with the alphabet, students are asked to work in pairs, taking it in turns to spell out and interpret simple words and sentences on each other’s hands using the deafblind manual. There will then be an opportunity to speak to someone who is deafblind, as well as see the deafblind manual in action as the deafblind person’s guide/communicator tells them what is going on.
Note:
Wherever possible we will include a deafblind person within this activity.
What the students will learn
The activity provides students with an insight into the different communication methods used by deafblind people. Deafblindness is a rare, devastating and isolating disability. Teaching the deafblind manual will help to improve students’ spelling, sentence construction and vocabulary. They will learn the importance of language as well as how much information we gain from our sight and hearing without even realising. They will become aware of how much we miss without these two vital senses. We guarantee students will be fascinated by this subject.
More about this activity:
This activity forms part of the ‘tutored programme’ and can be undertaken on its own or in conjunction with other deafblind awareness activities. It is also one of the two exercises undertaken in the ‘Introduction to deafblindness’.
Contact details:
If you would like to discuss any point of information contained within this leaflet or have additional questions about your visit please contact:
Heather O'Brien:Education Manager, Tel: 01733 358100,
E-mail: heather.lord@deafblind.org.uk
