Someone posted how can we communicate with a blind person as a joke but got me thinking how is it done with both blind and also a deaf.
Someone posted how can we communicate with a blind person as a joke but got me thinking how is it done with both blind and also a deaf.
I’ve spoken to someone who is deafblind before. They had an interpreter that would fingerspell onto their hand by touching it in certain places and making gestures. They would then fingerspell their answer back to the interpreter, and the interpreter would speak what they replied.
A lot of people don’t know that you can use computers and phones with a refreshable braille display. Some people who are deafblind can also read braille, so you could send them some text to their phone/computer, and then they should be able to read that text with a refreshable braille display. They then could reply to you by typing on their normal or braille keyboard, meaning you’ll get a reply in text.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refreshable_braille_display
That was my experience too.
For fast, real-time communication, an interpreter is required. It’s conceptually not that different than communicating with someone who’s deaf - you speak to them and their interpreter signs, then they sign and the interpreter speaks. The only difference is that they’re feeling signs rather than watching them.
But when the communication isn’t real-time, in-person, then many deaf-blind people can text and email using a refreshable braille display - so if you’re not in the same room you’d never know the text / email you’re getting is from someone who’s deafblind.