'Losing some of my vision made me desperate to help the blind'

F OR Sharon Sutton, suffering from the impact of partially losing her sight represents a daily struggle.

The 47-year-old has diabetic retinopathy which has caused major problems with her eyesight.

But the administrator's plight has inspired her to help others who suffer from blindness, and she has become a key player with the Action for Blind People charity, based in Hanley.

Now Sharon has told how she hopes more can be done for the blind, as a pioneering project is launched by experts at Staffordshire University to find ways to help people who are both blind and deaf.

The team – at the university's centre for ageing and mental health – is investigating the onset of 'deaf-blindness' in the over-50s.

Sharon, of Beaconsfield Drive, Blurton, said: "We had a gentleman come in a couple of weeks ago. He was a lumberjack working for the Forestry Commission, and he began to go blind.

"Then he began to go deaf, which really frustrated him, and he had to come and communicate with an interpreter.

"This dual impairment made it really hard to pass information on, but I noticed his interpreter was communicating with him through touch-based sign language.

"It was incredible to watch – we must've been talking for about two hours and although progress was slow it was also really good. While the blind don't have sight, they can at least talk and enjoy the radio, but the deaf-blind obviously can't.

"I can imagine it must be really lonely, not being able to do even the things which even the visually impaired like me take for granted.

"It must be really difficult for them – it just shows that they definitely need so much support."

Led by professor Paul Kingston and Susan Benbow, professor of mental health and ageing, the Staffordshire University team is appealing for volunteers to come forward to help with its research. They are hoping to find new ways to improve people's lives.

Professor Benbow said: "People assume that suffering from deaf-blindness means you are automatically totally impaired in both vision and hearing, but that's not the case.

"We want to study those over-50s who have only started developing dual sensory impairments, so we can see how it affects them.

"The aim is to see how we can keep them independent and part of the community for as long as possible."

The study is being funded by Sense, a national charity that supports and campaigns for children and adults who are deaf-blind. They offer high-quality, flexible services for deafblind people across the UK using volunteers and skilled staff to help them maintain a good quality of life.

People of all ages can have both sight and hearing loss – and while it is possible to be born with the afflictions, many develop them as a child or later in life.

The loss of hearing and sight is rarely concurrent – sometimes someone starts off with sight loss and develops hearing loss, and the former tends to exacerbate the latter.

Contrary to popular opinion, loss of sight and hearing is rarely total in those afflicted.

While severe impairments are common, relatively few lose either sense altogether.

A complete cure for deaf-blindness continues to elude experts, so treatment usually involves attempting to manage the condition through learning skills such as sign language and Braille.

To this end the charity requested Professor Kingston and his team to look into deaf-blindness in a bid to find new ways to help. The study will involve asking potential research subjects about their condition over the phone.

Research assistant Tiwana Rumindeep will then go out to their home to interview them face-to-face.

Finally, the person fills in a broad questionnaire before the findings are taken back to the office and collated with findings from other subjects.

Professor Benbow said he dearly hopes all this information and work can go towards yielding some sort of permanent solution for deaf-blind people.

"One in five people have a chance of developing hearing loss or visual impairment over their lifetime, so it's vital we combat this," he said.

"We need to collect a large enough sample of people for our research. The uptake so far has been good, and we've met some interesting, lovely people, but we need more.

"We're advertising everywhere to broaden the message. We've been on the local radio, but that only affects those who are listening and also the deaf may struggle to hear it."

Now the professor and his team are appealing for as many people are possible to get involved with their project. To contact the research team, call 01785 353 742.