Communication is the KEY....Inability to express does not mean I have nothing to SAY!

From the beginning of human race, communication is the basis of interaction and the barriers to communication faced by deafblind individuals, deny them of many independent interactions with the world. Deafblind people are seriously disadvantaged in terms of accessing information and their needs are very different as compared to people with single disability such as blindness or deafness. Deafblind people can neither communicate by ‘talking’ as visually impaired nor ‘receiving’ information as hearing impaired.

Due to the lack of communication, the problems deafblind individuals face- include feeling of isolation, lack of independence, difficulty in obtaining education, and inadequate employment opportunities. The underlying foundation of these problems is a barrier to communication. In the past, overcoming these obstacles has been difficult, if not impossible but today, combining recently developed technologies to facilitate communication will allow deafblind individuals to bridge the communication gap. If the need for interpreters could be  reduced (it can never be eliminated), the independence of deafblind individuals would be greatly improved.

Recently with the support from Rotary District 3050, my colleague- Zamir Dhale (Advocacy Officer in Sense India) got his Braille Display Unit (ESYS) which he can connect (via bluetooth) to his mobile phone and send/receive text messages and respond independently. Now he does not depend on any of us to "talk" to his wife Nasrin over phone and he can also fix up his appointments with government officials for advocating the rights of deafblind people!