The Nordic Definition of Deafblindness
The first Nordic definition of deafblindness is from 1980 (see below). For several years work was in progress to revise the definition, and in 2006 a Nordic writing group presented the following revised definition and comments, which the Nordic council of leaders and directors in the field of deafblindness recommended be taken into use.
The writing group consisted of the following:
- Inger Rødbroe Denmark
- Lea Hyvärinen, Finland
- Kerstin Möller, Sweden
- Knut Johansen, Norway
- Lex Grandia, chairman of the World Federation of the Deafblind
The revised definition
Deafblindness is a distinct disability.
Deafblindness is a combined vision and hearing disability. It limits activities of a person and restricts full participation in society to a degree, which requires that society compensates by means of specific services, environmental alterations and/or technology.
Comments
These comments are a clarification to the definition of deafblindness:
1. Vision and hearing are central in getting information. Therefore a decrease in the function of these two senses that carry information from distance increases the need to use senses that are confined to information within reach (tactile, kinaesthetic, haptic, smell and taste), as well as leaning on memory and deduction.
2. The need for specific alterations regarding environment and services depends on the time of on-set in relation to communicative development and language acquisition; the degree of the hearing and vision disability, whether it is combined with other disabilities and whether it is stable or progressive.
3. A person with deafblindness may be more disabled in one activity and less disabled in another activity. Therefore each activity and participation in it needs to be assessed separately.
Variation in functioning within each activity and participation in it may also be caused by environmental conditions and by internal personal factors.
4. Deafblindness causes varying needs for co-creating alterations in all activities and especially in all kinds of information; social interaction and communication; spatial orientation and moving around freely; activities of daily life and effort demanding near-activities including reading and writing.
Co-creating means that the person with deafblindness and the environment are equally involved. The responsibility for this to occur lies on society.
5. An interdisciplinary approach including specific know-how related to deafblindness is needed in service delivery and environmental alterations.
The former Nordic definition from 1980
"A person is deafblind when he or she has a severe degree of combined visual and auditory impairment. Some deafblind people are totally deaf and blind, while others have residual hearing and residual vision.
The severity of the combined visual and auditory impairments means that the deafblind people cannot automatically utilize services for people with visual impairments or with hearing impairments. Thus deafblindness entails extreme difficulties with regard to education, training, working life, social life, cultural activities and information.
For those who are born deafblind, or acquire deafblindness at an early age, the situation is complicated by the fact that they may have additional problems affecting their personality or behaviour. Such complications further reduce their chances of exploiting any residual vision or hearing.
Deafblindness must therefore be regarded as a separate disability which requires special methods of communication and special methods for coping with the functions of everyday life."