To be eligible for deaf-blind services, a person must have:

A visual impairment and an auditory impairment, or

A condition in which there is a progressive loss of hearing and vision.

A visual impairment is defined to mean one or more of the following:

• Corrected visual acuity poorer than 20/70 in better eye;
• Restricted visual field of 20 degrees or less in the better eye;
• Cortical blindness; and
• Does not appear to respond to visual stimulation, which adversely affects educational performance as determined by the multidisciplinary conference.

An auditory impairment is defined to mean one or more of the following:

• A sensorineural or ongoing chronic conductive hearing loss in the better ear with aided sensitivity of 26 dB HL or poorer;
• Functional auditory behavior that is significantly discrepant from the person’s present cognitive and/or developmental levels, which adversely affects educational performance as determined by the multidisciplinary conference.

Any person age birth to 21 suspected of being deaf-blind is eligible for services.

Do you know someone who is not using their vision and hearing?