Deafblindness in Children: Time to Act in India

Deafblindness or dual sensory impairment (DSI) is a distinctive disability, which encompasses varying degrees of hearing impairmentand low vision. The impact of deafblindness is not merely an addition of the impact of the two disabilities, but it is manifold. Deafblindchildren have cognitive, speech, motor and social delay. They can have multiple medical needs, which should be identified and met. It isestimated that there could be more than 500,000 deafblind adults and children in India. Doctors, general public, strategists and lawmakers need to have heightened awareness of its various aspects. It is time India acts for long-term welfare of its deafblind children,including their disability rights and access to a structured health and education system, thus increasing their chance of becomingindependent employable adults.

Métodos de avaliação da dupla deficiência sensorial em idosos. Uma revisão integrativa / Methods of evaluation of double sensory impairment in the elderly. An integrative review / Métodos de evaluación de la discapacidad sensorial doble en los ancianos. Una revisión integradora

O objetivo é realizar revisão sobre os métodos de avaliação utilizados para identificar a dupla deficiência sensorial em idosos. Como método, a busca por artigos sobre dupla deficiência sensorial em idosos, nas bases de dados PubMed, Scopus e BVS. Resultados: Foram selecionados 17 estudos: a 8 utilizaram-se métodos subjetivos; a 5, métodos objetivos e; e a 03, ambos os métodos. Concluiu-se que não houve padronização na forma de avaliar essa população entre os estudos que abordaram a dupla deficiência sensorial em idosos.

Objective: To review the evaluation methods used to identify dual sensory impairment in the elderly. Method: Search for articles on dual sensory impairment in the elderly in the PubMed, Scopus and BVS databases. Results: Seventeen studies were selected, of which 08 used subjective methods, 05 objective methods and 03 both methods. Conclusion: There was no standardization in the way to evaluate this population among the studies that addressed the double sensorial deficiency in the elderly.

El objetivo es revisar los métodos de evaluación utilizados para identificar la discapacidad sensorial doble en los ancianos. Como método, la búsqueda de artículos sobre discapacidad sensorial doble en los ancianos en las bases de datos PubMed, Scopus y VHL. Resultados: se seleccionaron 17 estudios: 8 con métodos subjetivos; a 5, métodos objetivos y; y 03, ambos métodos. Se concluyó que no había estandarización en la forma de evaluar a esta población entre los estudios que abordaron la deficiencia sensorial doble en los ancianos.

Profile and Quality of Life of Children with Dual Sensory Impairment or Deafblindness in Visually Impaired Special Centres / Jurnal Sains Kesihatan Malaysia

@#Coping with dual sensory impairment or deafblindness can be a challenging task for an individual and for the caregiver. Currently limited information is available hence the objective of this study is to determine the profile and quality of life for children with dual sensory impairment or deafblindness. It is hoped that with this information, better rehabilitation programs can be designed for children with deafblindness in Malaysia. A purposive sampling was adopted. Children with dual sensory impairment were invited to participate in the study. Demographic and hearing loss information was extracted from the children’s medical records. Face to face interviews with parents were conducted using the SF-36 quality of life questionnaire. Vision assessment comprising visual acuity, refraction, cover test, external ocular examination and children’s behaviour observations was conducted. Four children were identified based on sample size calculation and fulfilled the dual sensory impairment criteria out of the 44 children screened. The mean age was 9.3 ± 2.9 years old. Majority of the children were of Indian ethnicity. The category of deafblindness was congenital deafblindness with rubella as the main cause. All the children were premature babies but had a normal birth weight. The hearing profile showed the majority of them had bilateral profound hearing loss with mean pure tone average ranging between 50 dBHL and 120 dBHL. The main type of hearing problem was sensorineural and the majority of children owned hearing aids. The visual profile of the deafblindness children revealed either light perception (LP) and categorised as blind or low to moderate myopia. A majority had esotropia. All the children used braille as a visual aids and children with residual vision used closed circuit television (CCTV). Tactile methods were the main means for communication and majority of the children used a white cane. Behaviour and external observation assessments concurred with the hearing and vision impairment manifested. Quality of life in these subjects was lower in 7 out of 8 SF-36 dimensions as compared to normative values. Congenital deafblindness is the main category found among the children in this study and they had profound vision and hearing losses. Tactile methods are the main means of communication for these children. Their quality of life was affected and introducing deafblindness rehabilitation, which includes a combination of hearing and low vision rehabilitation, will be able to assist them in coping with their daily activities.