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Deafblind

Deafblindness

A Venn diagram illustrating the concepts of hearing impairment, sight impairment, and deafblindness.

A black and white portrait of Helen Keller with a quote about the importance of feeling with the heart. The text reads: "The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or even touched - they must be felt with the heart. Helen Keller." The image also includes the text "Deaf-Blind Awareness Week."

Prevalence

  • According to the National Center on Deaf-Blindness (2024), “there are approximately 10,000 children and youth in the United States who have been identified as Deafblind”. 
  • Deafblindness is a low-incidence disability and within this population there is great variability in terms of age, race/ethnicity, cause of deafblindness, and severity and type of hearing and vision loss.
  • Ninety percent have additional physical, medical, or cognitive disabilities.
  • NCDB staff are located in various locations across the country, including New York, Massachusetts, Wisconsin, Kansas, Oregon, Arkansas, Ohio, and Montana.

What is an Intervener?

Interveners are professionals who have received specialized training to work with people who are deafblind. An intervener helps the person with deafblindess gain access to environmental information, facilitates communication, as well as promoting social and emotional development.  An intervener may be part of your son’s or daughter’s education team.

Links for Intervener Resources

  • A Family's Guide to Interveners

    this PDF book will help you to fully understand the role of the intervener, the assessment process used to determine the need for an intervener, and how to navigate the IEP process. The book also includes some family stories, including several families who have children with CHARGE.

  • Open Hands Open Access (OHOA) Intervener Learning Modules

    These modules were developed as a national resource that works toward increasing awareness, knowledge, and skills related to intervention for students who are deaf-blind and are being served in educational settings (ages 3 through 21).

  • NCDB Intervener Library Listing

    The National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) is a technical assistance center funded by the US Department of Education. This is the library search page on the topic of interveners, which contains a variety of videos, webinars, and information documents relating to intervention.

  • National Intervener Certification E-Portfolio (NICE)

    Downloadable brochure available on the National Intervener Certification E-portfolio (NICE) System, which is an assessment process where interveners may submit evidence of their knowledge and skills to be evaluated by expert reviewers in the field of deaf-blindness.

Resources

A woman with long brown hair smiles at the camera, wearing a black top with colorful embroidery.

Whitney Creekmore, M. Ed

Educational Consultant – Special Education

Visual Impairment (VI), Deaf/Hard of Hearing (D/HH), Deafblind (DB), Assistive Technology (AT), Integrated Classrooms, CPI Trainer