What is the Deafblind Guidance?

On 23 June 2009, the Government reissued statutory guidance about services for deafblind people and circulated it to Local Authorities with a Local Authority Circular document.

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.

Read an article by Liz Ball, Campaigns Involvement Officer about her experiences and her hopes for the re-issued Guidance.