Helen Adams Keller was an American author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecturer. Born in West Tuscumbia, Alabama, she lost her sight and her hearing after a bout of illness when she was 19 months old. She then communicated primarily using home signs until the age of seven, when she met her first teacher and life-long companion Anne Sullivan. Sullivan taught Keller language, including reading and writing. After an education at both specialist and mainstream schools, Keller attended Radcliffe College of Harvard University and became the first deafblind person in the United States to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Anne Sullivan Macy was an American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller.
The Perkins Brailler is a "braille typewriter" with a key corresponding to each of the six dots of the braille code, a space key, a backspace key, and a line space key. Like a manual typewriter, it has two side knobs to advance paper through the machine and a carriage return lever above the keys. The rollers that hold and advance the paper have grooves designed to avoid crushing the raised dots the brailler creates.
Deafblindness is the condition of little or no useful hearing and little or no useful sight. Different degrees of vision loss and auditory loss occur within each individual. Because of this inherent diversity, each deafblind individual's needs regarding lifestyle, communication, education, and work need to be addressed based on their degree of dual-modality deprivation, to improve their ability to live independently. In 1994, an estimated 35,000–40,000 United States residents were medically deafblind. Laura Bridgman was the first American deafblind person known to become well educated. Helen Keller was a well-known example of an educated deafblind individual. To further her lifelong mission to help the deafblind community to expand its horizons and gain opportunities, the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Youths and Adults, with a residential training program in Sands Point, New York, was established in 1967 by an act of Congress.
Tactile signing is a common means of communication used by people with deafblindness. It is based on a sign language or another system of manual communication.
The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) is an American non-profit organization for people with vision loss. AFB's objectives include conducting research to advance change, promoting knowledge and understanding, and shaping policies and practices.
Laura Dewey Lynn Bridgman was the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language, forty-five years before the more famous Helen Keller; Laura's friend Anne Sullivan became Helen Keller's aide. Bridgman was left deaf-blind at the age of two after contracting scarlet fever. She was educated at the Perkins Institution for the Blind where, under the direction of Samuel Gridley Howe, she learned to read and communicate using Braille and the manual alphabet developed by Charles-Michel de l'Épée.
Ragnhild Tollefsen Kåta was the first deafblind person in Norway who received proper schooling. Despite being deafblind, she learned to talk. The story of her success was an inspiration to Helen Keller.
The Council of Schools and Services for the Blind (COSB) is a consortium of specialized schools in Canada and the United States whose major goal is improving the quality of services to children who are blind and visually impaired.
Richard Kinney was an American educator and school administrator. Blind at age six and deaf by age twenty, Kinney was the third deafblind person in the United States to earn a college degree. Kinney published four volumes of poetry and was president of the Hadley School for the Blind from 1975 until his death in 1979.
Elias Peter Hansen Hofgaard was a Norwegian pioneer educator of the deaf.
Haben Girma is an American disability rights advocate, and the first deafblind graduate of Harvard Law School.
Geraldine Jerrie Lawhorn was a figure of the American deafblind community, a performer, actress, pianist, then instructor at the Hadley Institute for the Blind and Visually Impaired. At 67 years old, she became the first deafblind African American to earn a college degree in the United States of America.
James Morrison Heady was an American deafblind author. Heady published multiple volumes of children's books and poetry and was frequently referred to by the contemporary press as the "Blind Bard of Kentucky". He was one of the first advocates for books for the blind in the United States and he invented several devices to facilitate communication and improve quality of life for deaf and blind people.
Michael Anagnos was a trustee and later second director of the Perkins School for the Blind. He was an author, educator, and human rights activist. Anagnos is well known for his work with Helen Keller.
Deafblind UK is a national charity in the United Kingdom supporting people with sight and hearing loss to live the lives they want. Founded in 1928, Deafblind UK has its headquarters in Peterborough, Cambridgeshire. The charity help people to live with deafblindness by making connections, and building their confidence and independence through a range of services and campaigns. Run by staff and volunteers, the current CEO is Steve Conway, who has been in position since 2018. The current chairman in Robert Nolan.
Thomas Stringer was an American carpenter. Deafblind from a young age, Stringer was brought to the Perkins Institution for the Blind through the fundraising of Helen Keller. He was well-regarded at the school for his carpentry skills, which he used to help support himself after graduating from Perkins in 1913.
Anindya Bapin Bhattacharyya is an Indian American technology instructor for the deafblind. He coordinates the National Outreach Technology Development and Training Program at the Helen Keller National Center for DeafBlind Youths and Adults, traveling the country teaching deafblind people to use adaptive technology. Deaf from birth and blind at the age of nine, Bhattacharyya has been an advocate for deafblind individuals in the United States and beyond.
Satoshi Fukushima is a Japanese researcher and advocate for people with disabilities. Blind since age nine and deaf from the age of eighteen, Fukushima was the first deafblind student to earn a degree from a Japanese university when he graduated from Tokyo Metropolitan University in 1987. Fukushima leads the Barrier-Free Laboratory, part of the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology at the University of Tokyo; the research done by members of the lab's staff focuses on accessibility.
Mary Swift Lamson, was an American educator and writer best known as a teacher of Laura Bridgman, at the Perkins Institute for the Blind. She wrote the book Life and Education of Laura Dewey Bridgman, the Deaf, Dumb, and Blind Girl (1884) about her experiences teaching Bridgman.
