About Us:
Our Vision

About us: our vision

“A DSI friendly country where early identification and support makes a real difference to the mental health and wellbeing of older people in our ever growing, longer living society.”

Where early identification enables lower cost interventions keeping people at home longer.

Where future generations are self-aware and able to support their elderly family members to enjoy activities they used to – even as their sight and hearing deteriorates with age and as families live together for longer.

This Hi-VisUK way will be a real alternative to the current experience of rising and often unaffordable costs – to the individual and their families and to health and social care support services.

Our vision will see less pressure on hospital beds as more staff are trained, then older people with DSI can be more quickly and safely discharged.

Safer because trained family members or care providers will have prepared their home with appropriate adjustments, some at lower-cost, and use of smart-tech and low-tech devices.

We will see less pressure on adult social services because they are able to work with the families knowing they both understand DSI and how it affects that individual elderly person.

And if the time comes when an elderly DSI person needs to go into care, their families can better negotiate and help support their stay in the care home or setting as long as needed.

Because everyone will know what good DSI care and health care should look like.

How we started…

Hi-VisUK – a charity with years of sensory impairment and care experience.

Hi-VisUK was established in 2016 as a Charitable Incorporated Organisation: Hearing Impairment and Visual Impairment Support UK, by the directors of its predecessor SCENE Enterprises CIC, a leading influencer in adult social care in the north east for many years.

The vision for Hi-VisUK was created from the findings of  SCENEs pioneering In Good Hands project. SCENE received £1.3 million of BIG Lottery Silver Dreams Funding to support the innovative work of In Good Hands about dual sensory impairment and acquired communication disorders.

Hi-VisUK has a new flagship project called Making Waves which is supported by the National Lottery Community Fund to take In Good Hands success onto a new level and a fresh vision. In addition Hi-VisUK continues to deliver its unique training and qualifications across the UK directly and with long term partners SCIE.

Our Team…

The core Hi-VisUK team has a uniquely wide range of expertise with many years of combined experience in sensory loss and rehabilitation, including dual sensory impairment, deafblindness, acquired communication disorders, and disability.

We are led by people with over 150 years in the sensory impairments and disability field, with experience and expertise at local, national and international level. Our team includes staff with many years of social care service management experience and qualifications in DSI and Deafblindness up to level six. Our courses are designed and delivered by qualified teachers and trainers whilst our admin team has over 20 years of sensory impairment related work experience.

In addition and because Hi-VisUK works collaboratively and flexibly, our wider team includes organisations and providers of care, individuals and families, online and digital learning designers, health and social care expertise, research and development expertise.

360 Million

People worldwide have disabling hearing loss.

32 Million

Children have disabling hearing loss.

11 Million

People in the UK live with some form of hearing loss.

2 Million

People in the UK live with sight loss.

6-8 Million?

Potential number of people in UK living with acquired dual sensory impairment.

The future is bright.

If we all work together to identify all those older people who are struggling with DSI, if we can get them on the radar, then it won’t take much and it won’t cost the earth to make their lives brighter. Support us, work with us, make that difference real.

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Why we are here

We have developed this small, flexible and highly skilled, experienced team to tackle the challenges of our growing older population living with the impacts of DSI. To work with others who look after, care for or provide services to older people with DSI to help build their expertise and capacity firstly identify more older people with DSI and secondly to improve the care support and guidance offers to older people with DS and their families.

We work with highly experienced social policy/transitional health researchers and key stakeholders to make sure our learning and experience guides us.

We are uncovering an increasingly alarming situation facing older people with DSI that local authorities are just beginning to recognise, still largely hidden from view, caused by a significant lack of understanding and under-identification of DSI. This is contributing significantly and unnecessarily to the crisis in care for older people.

Older people with DSI could be discharged earlier and safely, can be supported in their own homes or have a better quality of life in care and better experience with health services – but only if trained carers/practitioners/families and low cost interventions including equipment are available. This is why we are here.

Evaluation Findings: our training really works!

“…almost 40% of respondents reported finding the training useful in their personal lives with family, friends or neighbours who are deafblind. This indicates added value to the training increasing the numbers of deafblind people being supported either informally or formally in a work setting.”

“Much of this equipment (to support an older deafblind person) is small scale, inexpensive and practical yet deafblind people appear to have little awareness of the availability of such equipment. The training has raised awareness of carers, support staff and others, with the result that deafblind people are beginning to benefit from the use of such equipment. This finding is now being confirmed by deafblind people.”

“…there are early indications that the knowledge/experience and changing practices (as a result of the training) not only improve services and support but could ultimately create cost savings/save money…respondents reported that their organisation had been able to save money as a result of the knowledge gained in the training.”

“A large majority of respondents who have completed one or more of the training courses report positively as to the design, quality and content of the training. Respondents also report that the training has improved not only their knowledge and understanding but also their confidence in working with and supporting deafblind people. This increase in confidence appears to be pivotal in how they do this.”

Findings show that the IGH Deafblind Support Project has created a significant social value of £5.30 for every point invested in the project. This is based on a robust evaluation process using qualitative and quantitative techniques to ensure that any assumptions and estimates used are realistic and based on information provided by the key stakeholders.