Ms Laura English:

I will bring together several strands arising from the questions on pathways to care. I spoke about co-ordination of services because there is a shortage of deaf-blind specific services, and that stretches the capacity of other organisations. Clearly we want deaf-blind specific services but we also recognise that a number of deaf and blind services are doing fantastic work. For example, Fighting Blindness offers a counselling service and there may be opportunities to pool resources by adding a sign language interpreter to its counselling services. The way forward will be through co-operation with other organisations that are already providing services to people who are deaf-blind while also working to develop deaf-blind specific services.

In regard to schools, we have a person working in our outreach service and a number of our staff are trained to masters level in deaf-blind communication. Currently they are finding it difficult to get places on multi-disciplinary teams. A multidisciplinary team might comprise a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist and a speech and language therapist but none of the team will have specific deaf-blind specific expertise. We want to reach the point where deaf-blindness is recognised as a distinct disability requiring a professional with deaf-blind specific knowledge. We have also started to roll out training and support in this regard. I have been in contact with UCD and gave a speech to nurses who will be graduating next year on dealing with a deaf-blind person in a hospital setting. This training needs to reach a wider audience, including ophthalmologists and audiologists.

In regard to the deaf-blind specific services provided in Ireland, the Ann Sullivan Centre provides residential care to people who are deaf-blind and have additional disabilities. The majority of these are intellectual disabilities, which we are not confident were always present rather being due to sensory deprivation from an early age. Full-time residential care is not necessary for everybody. As Ms Carol Brill demonstrates, a number of deaf-blind people do not have additional disabilities but they need to be supported in living as independently as possible in their communities. Senator Colm Burke asked about elderly care and access to residential care. A cohort of the deaf-blind population will need the residential support we currently provide but there is a lack of support for people who want to remain in their homes and close to their families and friends. If Ms Brill had somebody who could support her in simple tasks, such as shopping or cooking, it would make a massive difference to her life as her condition progresses. We need to enable people to live in their homes.