Will you help us get closer to the people who really need us?
Over 80% of our members suffer from progressive sight and hearing loss, often acquired in later life.
Many of them have had interesting careers and lived full and varied lives. For these individuals, the onset of Deafblindness slowly erodes their confidence and self esteem; severely limiting their ability to do many things they used to take for granted.
At Deafblind UK we are dedicated to helping people adapt to the impact of Deafblindness by providing practical support, advice and mentoring services that empower and enable them to take back control of their lives.
Last year I was appointed as Deafblind UK’s first case worker. My job is to provide one-to-one support on a variety of issues such as obtaining benefits and adaptive equipment or facilitating better communication with GPs and healthcare specialists.
'What makes the job so rewarding is that I know I am helping people to help themselves'.
Val Swann, Case Worker
But, as our only case worker, it is becoming increasingly difficult to respond to the ever growing number of referrals from deafblind people and their carers nationwide. In just 9 months, I have received over 440 referrals, and on average each deafblind person needs at least 7 hours of support.
Please give a gift that will help to pay for a network of regional case workers to support deafblind people nationwide.
With your help we want to create a network of case workers across England and Wales, to support more deafblind people at a local level. Each case worker will work with members attending local deafblind support groups and will have an in-depth knowledge of their unique needs, and local facilities and specialist services available to them.
To set up this service in five towns and cities across England and Wales will cost in the region of £130,000 per year.
A gift of just £19 could help pay for an hour’s one-to-one advocacy, enabling a Deafblind person to access the benefits they are entitled to.
Alternatively, a gift of £54 could pay for a group meeting where deafblind people can share experiences and obtain face-to-face advice from one of our regional case workers.
To demonstrate how important my role is, I’d like to tell you about how I helped a gentleman called Harry.
Harry began to lose his hearing in his late 30’s as a result of being exposed to the noise of gunfire whilst in the military. Now in his 70’s, he is extremely hard of hearing and has very limited sight caused by a combination of Glaucoma and Macular Degeneration. Thanks to the constant support of his wife, Harry managed to cope with most aspects of daily living despite the ongoing deterioration in his sight and hearing. However in 2006, his wife suffered a series of mini-strokes which meant that she could no longer give him the support he had come to rely on.
With support from Deafblind UK, Harry is now taking back control of his life.
Life became increasingly difficult for Harry, and in May 2007 he sought help from Deafblind UK. As you will see from the enclosed case study, over the past nine months I’ve worked closely with him to work out strategies for dealing with a variety of issues from accessing a low vision clinic to obtaining better lighting in his home. His confidence is slowly returning and he now feels more able to deal with the challenges that daily life presents.
In his words:
“Without Deafblind UK it was so difficult to find my way through the morass and fog when dealing with hospitals, shopping, everything”
Harry’s experience shows just how critical our intervention has been in helping him to begin the process of taking back control of his life and regaining his self esteem.
Please give whatever you can today to enable other people like Harry to change their lives for the better.
Yours sincerely
Val Swann
Case worker, Deafblind UK
P.S. By giving a gift today, you’ll be empowering people with Deafblindness to take control of their lives. Thank you so much.
