Who is Considered Deaf-Blind?

Persons with deaf-blindness are persons who have both auditory and visual impairments, the combination of which causes such severe communication and other developmental, educational, vocational and rehabilitation problems that such persons cannot be properly accommodated in special education or vocational rehabilitation programs solely for persons who are hearing impaired or visually handicapped.

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.

What conditions make you eligible:

Medical conditions that may warrant

Cortical visual impairment

Auditory processing disorder

Usher Syndrome

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

To contact us:

818 DuPage Boulevard
Glen Ellyn, Illinois 60137

Phone: (630) 790-2474
TTY/Voice (800) 771-1158
Email Us

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