What is the deafblind guidance?

On 9 March 2001, the Government issued statutory guidance about services for deafblind people and circulated it to Local Authorities with a Local Authority Circular document.

The Local Authority Circular was cancelled on 28 February 2006. This does not mean the guidance is cancelled. It will continue unless the Government decides to cancel or replace it.

What does the guidance mean?

The deafblind guidance expects local authorities to:

• identify, make contact with and keep a record of the deafblind people locally
• ensure that assessments are carried out by properly trained personnel
• ensure that appropriate services are provided for deafblind people - remembering that individual services for people who are deaf or who are blind may not be appropriate for someone who is both deaf and blind
• ensure that they have access to fully trained, one-to-one support workers if necessary
• provide information in a suitable format which is accessible to deafblind people.
• ensure that a senior manager is given responsibility for deafblind services.