Deafness
According to World Health Organisation estimates, 278 million people worldwide have moderate to profound hearing loss in both ears, of which 80% live in low and middle-income countries.
Some people are born deaf while others become deaf as a result of complications during pregnancy, childhood illness, accidents or trauma. Ear diseases which would receive routine treatment in the UK, are major causes of disablement and even death in the developing world. Left untreated, a simple ear infection can destroy the eardrum. Infections like meningitis, measles and mumps or common tropical illnesses such as cerebral malaria can also cause deafness.
Some people have an inherited type of deafness – but these make up a very small number of the total population of deaf people. There are also many people who lose their hearing as they become older.
It has been estimated that 90% of all the information we receive comes to us through our distance senses of sight and hearing. In addition, hearing is the key to a child’s ability to develop progressively, given the critical role it plays in the development of speech and by extension of intellect and thought. The most important sounds we hear are the sounds of speech. Some deaf people can hear some sounds, while other hear no sounds at all. This makes it very difficult to learn to speak and so the major problem deaf people face is with communication. People who go deaf after they have learned to speak can feel very cut off from other people.
For the majority of people in the developing world being deaf or hearing impaired means access to formal education, even to primary standard, or vocational training is denied. This can be due to lack of specific teaching facilities or specially trained teachers, attitudes to those with disabilities within the community or already overstretched provision of education. Lacking either a formal education or training, deaf children can grow up isolated and without the training to earn a living or contribute to their community, creating additional economic hardship and stigma and the preventing the chance to fulfil their potential.
Deafness is often overlooked in development programmes because it affects a relatively small group of people and because it is little understood. Donor agencies attract a great deal of money for the prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of blindness, but deafness attracts much less sympathy and money!
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Deafblindness
Deafblindness is a unique disability where the dual-loss of both hearing and vision create enormous challenges for the individual.
Some people are totally blind and deaf, but many will still have some remaining use of one or both senses. Others may have additional or multiple disabilities to overcome. No reliable figures are available for the numbers of those affected worldwide.
Deafblindness has many causes. For people born with dual-sensory loss, congenital deafblindness, this can be caused by rubella or other infections. For others, a genetic condition may cause progressive loss of both senses and acquired deafblindness may also develop later in life due to ageing. Whilst no two deafblind people will be affected in the same way or have the same needs, all potentially face similar problems with difficulties in communication and loneliness.
Deafblind individuals are unable to use one sense to compensate for the impairment of the other and will require services different from those designed for either deaf or blind. For those born with a dual-sensory impairment, finding and developing a way to communicate is crucial and unique to that individual, often through subtle body language and movements. For those who develop hearing and visual impairment later in life, communication needs will be different and subject to change throughout their lives as one or both senses deteriorate. Both require flexible and specialist support to the individual, from as early as possible, to enable them to fully participate in mainstream life to the best of their ability.
Children born with congenital deafblindness in income-poor countries face particular problems as it has been estimated that approximately 95% of what we learn comes through our sight and hearing. The overwhelming majority of those affected remain excluded from education and the condition itself, deafblindness, is not recognised as a distinct disability and is not taken into account in determining often already stretched national education needs. Without support to learn to communicate, they face a lifetime of isolation and exclusion from community life and are often among the most marginalised with their potential unrealised.
In many income-poor countries, there is little information or awareness about deafblindness and many sufferers are ignored, hidden or rejected by their communities.
