The Dual Sensory Impairment Project held an annual Christmas party in mid-December! We celebrated 2024’s achievements, discussed challenges, solutions and big plans for 2025 projects, chatted about our holiday fun and ate a delicious array of food! Our chief cheerleader Suzie was absent, although we mustn’t feel sorry for this as she was in France enjoying her beautiful new apartment, …
News and other articles
SAVE THE DATE: National Conference – Filling in the Gaps and Joining the Dots
Save the Date for the First National Dual Sensory Impairment – Deafblindness Conference: November 27th – 28th, 2025 This two-day conference aims to fill in the gaps in our data, knowledge and services. Co-Convened by The University Of Sydney and Macquarie UniversityIn partnership with SensesWA & others ABSTRACT SUBMISSIONS WILL OPEN 1ST FEBRUARY 2025 For sponsorship enquiries and other queries, …
Deafblind Australia Annual General Meeting
By Annmaree Watharow and Skye Wallace We have travelled to Perth to do a number of multi-purpose activities: Interviews Skye and I spent time with amazing consumers to get their insights on what deafblind or dual sensory impaired people and their families need and want. This information is then used to inform our partnerships, research programs and awareness raising and …
Save Sight Institute Family Day – Part 3: Social-Haptic Communication Workshop Notes
Annmaree Watharow and Susannah McNally People have been using on-body touch signals for centuries. Most people use touch and gestures, for example, to signify support (patting on the back), and love (holding hands, kissing). People with disability and their families have sometimes created individual systems when sight, hearing or speaking senses are not working well enough for them to ‘know …
Save Sight Institute Family Day – Part 2: Being Prepared for Hospital
Annmaree Watharow and Susannah McNally So, we have our super team in place (see part one). What else do we need to have a better health or hospital experience? We need lots of systemic and attitudinal changes, but we can help ourselves (and our health caregivers) by being prepared. In order to be better prepared for hospital and healthcare encounters, …
Save Sight Institute Family Day – Part 1: Transitions and Super Teams
Annmaree Watharow and Susannah McNally We are here at the Save Sight Institute Family Day as part of our mission with the Dual Sensory Impairment Project to consolidate partnerships and raise awareness of the issues impacting people and families living with sensory impairments. Our brief today is twofold: a presentation of managing transitions from children’s health care services to adult …
Developing a consumer and carer handbook – We need your input!
We are developing a consumer and carer handbook for older people living with dual sensory impairment. Please fill out our survey to help up gain insights that will inform the design of a consumer and carers handbook for people with combined vision and hearing loss. We are seeking input directly from people with combined hearing and vision loss (or dual …
A Report from The United Kingdom
Usher syndrome is the most common cause of deafblindness in people under 65 years of age, accounting for around fifty percent. In most cases, Usher syndrome is the combination of congenital deafness and acquired low vision that degenerates over time. It may be associated with balance disorders and cataracts. The hearing loss is usually stable, but subtypes have been identified …
A Report from Spain
I am in Spain in a town by the Balearic Sea. Not for recreation but for intense work on a new core set for deafblindness in the International Classification of Function (ICF). There’s a beach outside, a waterslide too, and even a roller coaster. But we are inside focused on deciding and debating what features of deafblindness or dual sensory …
International Book Launch

Lived Places Publishing has recently released Dual Sensory Impairment and the Older Person on their website. Older people with combined hearing loss and low vision, also known as dual sensory impairment living in residential aged care facilities are a forgotten group. Hearing loss, vision loss, loneliness and a rapidly ageing population are global concerns. But older people with dual sensory …