Sensory impairment is known to be associated with a range of psychosocial issues, such as loss, quality of life, identity and independence, all of which are of concern to social work. Despite this, Luey (1994) observes that work in this field has been somewhat marginalised by the profession, both in practice and academia. Deafblindness in particular has received little attention in social work and research on the experience of dual sensory loss is still very much in its infancy (Dammeyer, 2015). However, in England, the Care Act 2014 and its accompanying Regulations and Statutory Guidance have placed new duties on Local Authorities in assessing and responding to the needs of deafblind people. In response to these new responsibilities, I was delighted to host a ‘Deafblindness Day’ for the Level 4 BA (Hons) Social Work students as part of their ‘Readiness for Supervised Practice’ Module; we were also very fortunate to be joined by three experts by experience: Ann, who has Usher Type II, Lilias, who is the mother of deafblind son with additional needs, and Molly Watt, who has Usher Type II. The day started with an overview of the emerging findings from my PhD research on vulnerability amongst deafblind people (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26733322 ), and was followed by three excellent presentations from our guest speakers. Ann described her experiences of ageing with dual sensory loss, the daily challenges, her voluntary work with Sense’s Legal Team and her desire not to have social work intervention…. at the moment! Lilias gave a moving account of her son’s development and achievements, which challenged the predictions of professionals. She also offered the students an insight into why certain social workers had been better than others. Our final speaker, Molly (accompanied by her guide-dog Unis) explained the challenges she experienced at University as a deafblind student, her passion in raising awareness about deafblindness/Usher Syndrome, and her use of a range of technology in supporting her day to day life and role as Deafblind International Ambassador and motivational speaker. Further information about Molly’s work and charity, The Molly Watt Trust can be found here: http://www.molly-watt-trust.org/ . Feedback from the day was really positive, with students describing it as ‘Amazing’, ‘The best session on the module so far’, and ‘The session that will always stay with me’. I’m hopeful that the next generation of social workers will respond positively to the challenges faced by those with sensory impairments; the day might even have inspired some to specialise in the field!

References:

Dammeyer, J. (2015) ‘Deafblindness and Dual Sensory Loss Research: Current Status and Future Directions’ World Journal of Otorhinolaryngology. 5(2): 37-40.

Luey, H. (1994) ‘Sensory Loss: A neglected issue in Social Work’ Journal of Gerontological Social Work. 21 (3-4): 213-224.

Peter Simcock, Senior Lecturer in Social Work P.Simcock@staffs.ac.uk