Deafblind community members share their perspective in Newcastle

Transcript

00:00For people who are deafblind, life can be challenging, but the challenges will be dependent

00:18on the individual.

00:20Some struggle more than others, depending on family experience, what life was like at

00:27home in those formative years, what life was like at school.

00:31All of these things lead to, like the rest of us, the adults we become, the choices that

00:36are made available to us, the education that we're able to access or not.

00:43Often deafblind people will be prepared to try things, and if they go well, they'll keep

00:48going, and others are not so willing to try new things, but that depends on their experience.

00:56But sometimes it takes just a little bit more time than others to become familiar with our

01:00environment or our experiences.

01:03And what about days like today, what does that mean to Jax and the community?

01:19Events like this are really important because it helps to educate wider society, because

01:23so often people don't know about deafblind people, the fact that we exist, or our needs.

01:28People are aware of deafness and they're aware of blindness, but we are a distinct group,

01:33and so many in society aren't aware of that, and so they don't know how to be when they're

01:37in our presence.

01:38So events like this can slowly make an impact and trickle out into wider society.

01:43That awareness is really important.

01:46It's important that wider society becomes familiar with the fact that we exist and our

01:52needs.

01:53So often people think we're hidden away and that we don't have really exciting lives to

01:57lead, but we do, we have normal lives that are exciting at times.