Key to making a difference is how well we listen. It is all about how well we learn: learning how to improve support for older people who acquire deafblindness as a result of living longer lives.
At the heart of our mission is the knowledge that too few people know anything about the condition, including most professionals, and far too many older people become significantly socially isolated soon after the condition develops that can lead to health and wellbeing problems.
“I don’t answer the door as such, only by appointment. I am worried now about letting strangers in – your anxiety is heightened when you lose your sight and hearing. I am anxious about using ATMs in case someone is watching me. I have become a recluse frightened to go out alone for health and safety reasons. I have become very depressed.” A deafblind man who lost his sight and hearing suddenly.
Key to bridging the gap is our idea that older people are ideally placed to support their deafblind peers as volunteer buddies. But only if they are trained and qualified to the extent that they are confident and know how to support an older deafblind person. And when their own sight and hearing starts to deteriorate they will be better placed to cope themselves.
“You have made me aware that deafblindness could happen to me, or my husband too. So the more people know about the condition then the more people there will be who can help us…The connection with ageing made me realise deafblindness is not “their problem”, it’s “our problem” due to the growing numbers of people who are living much longer lives…but you haven’t made me worry anymore about getting older, it has helped me to think more carefully about the future.” A volunteer after receiving our training.
Our project is interested in what an older person who is deafblind has to say about how they are supported and what their experience is before and after they are paired with one of our trained volunteers. Equally we need to hear from our new volunteers as they experience the training and then support an older deafblind person.
“When I heard more I thought it (our work) is a good thing because you need help like this when you lose your sight and your hearing. The most important thing is the people support, the personal support. This is more important to me than any other type of support.” A deafblind person thinking about what it might mean to have a trained HiVisUK volunteer.
“If I was newly assessed and there had been a HiVisUK then, that would be wonderful – my life would come back. It would mean I am enjoying life. It would help my wife.” A deafblind person thinking about what it would have meant if there had been something like HiVisUK when his deafblindness first developed.
