Deafblindness
Assistive technology for Deafblindness sends information through touch. This helps people move around and use digital content because they cannot rely on seeing or hearing.
Physical environment
In the real world, assistive technology for Deafblind people includes touch-based communication systems and helpers who share information about the surroundings through direct contact.
Example
A Deafblind person who uses hand-over-hand signing has a support worker sign directly into their palm. This touch-based sign language shares spoken communication in a way that neither seeing nor hearing can access.
Key point
Many Deafblind people depend on special helpers called intervenors. These helpers are trained to connect them to the physical world. This reliance on others is a big fairness problem when help is not available.
ICT environment
In the world of technology, assistive technology for people who are Deafblind is mostly the refreshable braille display. This device shows screen reader information as braille characters you can feel, and these characters change as the content changes. In the world of technology, assistive technology for people who are Deafblind is mostly the refreshable braille display. This device shows screen reader information as braille characters you can feel, and these characters change as the content changes.
Example
A Deafblind person reads a web page by moving their fingers over a special braille display that changes. This display shows one line of braille at a time and updates as they move through the page with a screen reader.
Key point
Refreshable braille displays cost a lot and only work with text. They cannot show pictures, so any content that is only visual, like charts or infographics, must have clear text descriptions to be accessible.