Code: RT03
Guidance issued by the Department of Health gives new rights to deafblind people and places new duties on local authorities. It applies to children, adults and older people. The guidance is about anyone who has a hearing loss and a sight loss that cause them difficulty in everyday life.
Who does this apply to?
The guidance defines deafblindness widely and says, "Persons are regarded as deafblind if their combined sight and hearing impairment cause difficulties with communication, access to information and mobility". This definition means that anyone who has both a hearing loss and a sight loss that cause them problems in everyday life is covered by the new guidance, people do not have to be completely deaf and blind.
What does this mean local authorities have to do?
The guidance tells local authorities that they have to do particular things that will help deafblind people, and provides suggestions about the way that they can do them.
Local authorities have a responsibility to show that they are following guidance from the Secretary of State for Health, and if they fail to do so they may be subject to judicial review.
The guidance says that local authorities have to know who the deafblind people in their area are, to provide specialist assessments by staff who understand deafblindness, to provide one to one support, to ensure services are appropriate, to provide information deafblind people can use and to have a senior manager responsible for deafblindness (see below for the full text of the instructions to local authorities).
What does this mean in practice?
Deafblind people have received inadequate services that do not meet their unique needs for far to long. The Department of Health has recognised that local authorities need to focus the needs of deafblind people. Now social services have to make the aspirations in the guidance a reality for deafblind people.
The guidance means that any person with a hearing and sight loss should expect
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to be assessed by a person who understands the effects of a dual impairment, and the support that can be provided
Ask your assessor what their qualifications/experience are. Suggest they get in touch with Sense for more information about deafblindness. Ask your local authority how they plan to provide enough assessment by trained assessors.
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to receive one to one support if needed
Ask your local authority how they can provide trained one to one support. Ensure your assessment includes information about your need for one to one support - for example to go shopping, to go to the doctor, to visit friends
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to receive services and information in way that is accessible to them
Ask your local authority how they plan to make everything accessible. If you get a letter you can't read, a visit by a person you don’t understand, an invitation to a building you cant get into, or find your way around - let your local authority know.
Detailed information about the guidance
The Department of Health issued Social Care for Deafblind Children and Adults (LAC 2001(8)) in March 2001 under the Section 7(1) of the Local Authority Social Services Act 1970. Click here to see the full guidance. Sense can send you a copy of the guidance.
