Deaf-blind: take this into account online
Someone who is deaf-blind has a combination of auditory and visual impairments. To ensure that your online communication is also accessible to this group, there are certain aspects to consider. In this article, you will find out what to look out for.
When we talk about digital accessibility, we often talk about different types of disabilities. Of course, these types of disabilities are not mutually exclusive. Some people have different disabilities. In the case of deafblindness, there is an overlap between a auditory impairment and a visual impairment.
What exactly is deafblind? So someone who is deafblind has both hearing loss and sight loss. Some deafblind people are completely deaf and completely blind, but many deafblind people still have some hearing and/or some sight. It is estimated that there are about 4,000 deafblind people in the Netherlands. Of these, about 5% were born deafblind and 95% became deafblind during their lifetime.
Deafblindness and communication
Depending on the degree of deafness and the degree of blindness, deafblind people use different ways to communicate. Some deaf-blind people can still see just enough to see gestures, as long as they are made in the visual field. Other deafblind people still hear just enough to be able to understand speech, as long as it is spoken clearly enough.
People who are both (almost) totally deaf and (almost) totally blind tend to use mostly tactile communication. These are forms of communication in which feeling plays a role. This includes finger spelling, for example. This involves spelling letters in the palm of the hand. Another example is four-handed sign language. This is sign language in which interlocutors hold hands in order to feel the gestures.
Deafblind on the internet
When we talk about how deaf-blind people use the internet, in this article we assume people use mostly tactile communication. To use a computer, this group usually uses a braille display. This is a device that attaches to the bottom of a keyboard or laptop. It can generate Braille by raising small pins through holes to form Braille. People who are deaf-blind can read the structure and content of a website that way.
Making your digital communications accessible to deaf-blind visitors
As we wrote, every deafblind person is deaf and blind to varying degrees. The tips in this article are specifically aimed at people whose both sight and hearing are almost completely gone, because it is good to take extra account of this in certain aspects of building a website or document. But of course, many of these tips also help people who have only sight impairments or only hearing impairments!
General tips
In all your communication, make sure that you use clear language and that the language is not too complicated. Especially people who are deaf-blind from a young age may otherwise have trouble understanding your communication. Also remember to offer an accessible contact way, for example via an (accessible) contact form or via e-mail.
Website
Also make sure your website is fully digitally accessible. Many success criteria of the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), or accessibility guidelines, are also useful for deaf-blind visitors. For example, make sure your website has a clear and consistent structure. It is also important that informative and functional images have good text alternatives. And are all interactive elements easy to use?
It can be useful to test your website yourself with pre-reading software, as the information you hear will also be the information conveyed through a braille reader.
Video’s
If you post videos on your website, it is important for deaf-blind visitors that you provide a transcript. This is the transcribed text of all the dialogue, important sounds and any important visual information in the video. As transcribed text, it can be converted to Braille.
PDF-document
It is also important to pay close attention to accessibility when creating PDF documents. For deaf-blind readers, it is especially important that the document is tagged and that these tags are structured correctly. This means, for example, that the reading order is logical and that visual information is also in the tags, for example when using headings and lists.
Getting started with digital accessibility
In summary, then, it is good to take the following things into account to make your online communication accessible to deaf-blind people:
Make sure your language is clear and that you offer a written contact option.
Make sure your website is accessible, for example by ensuring that the structure is consistent, that interactive elements are easy to use and that informative and functional images have good text alternatives.
Make sure a transcript is present if you use videos in your communications.
Make sure PDF documents are accessible, for example by being tagged and having a good structure.
Not sure how to make your communications digitally accessible? No worries, we can help you with that!
