Vision Australia is excited to introduce a new program designed to better support children and young people with deafblindness and their families.
Through the program, parents can work with one lead service provider who looks holistically at sensory needs, and who collaborates on care across services.
The aim is simple: through tailored services and individualised support, Vision Australia aims to help children and young people with deafblindness to participate fully in everyday life.
Why we’re launching this program
Combining both hearing and vision needs, deafblindness is a unique sensory disability that can affect a child’s social life, independent mobility and ability to communicate and access information.
Following extensive conversations with our clients and service providers, we discovered that families found navigating multiple services from various organisations for vision and hearing to be confusing and exhausting.
They told us that they want a provider who understands dual sensory loss, communicates clearly and connects them with the right supports – without parents having to repeat their story at every step.
This new program responds to these insights, and draws on Vision Australia’s extensive experience to provide families with individualised expert support that ensures children and young people with deafblindness always have the right assistance at the right time.
What families can expect
While we recognise that there is no one way to support children and young people with deafblindness, our program draws on evidence-based approaches to help us best serve our community.
Our trained team members work closely with families, educators and allied health professionals to ensure consistent and coordinated support. As a result, our program allows us to better support children with deafblindness through individualised goal setting, practical strategies at home and school, and support that adapts as your child grows.
Just as every child is unique, so are our support plans.
Hear from one of our clients and their mother about the value of having a central point for families for their support needs:
