It may be a child who is deafblind. Deafblindness is a complex disability, which is characterized by a combined loss of vision and hearing. The vision and hearing loss is compounded exponentially when there are additional disabilities to create extreme challenges in the areas of communication, development of interpersonal relationships, behavior, sensory integration, and motor and cognitive development.

The short answer is: no. There is no government plan or policy that is of help to Lauren with regard to working with an intervener. The Texas Department of Aging and Disability Services manages a program called the "Deaf-Blind Multiple Disabilities Medicaid Waiver". Once a deafblind person both meets the eligibility criteria AND has their application come to the top of the waiting list, then they can take advantage of state-funded services. Outlined as a service provided by the state are services provided by an intervener. However, while the requirements for a person in this role have become more strenuous, they still fall short of the two-year degree Canadian interveners achieve at George Brown College.

A person who can consistently bridge the gap of sensory deprivation so that the child can receive information and become linked to the world around her is needed. This person is called intervener. The intervener can provide information to child so that she may better understand her environment and act appropriately within it. The intervener serves to interpret information from the child and also acts as a conduit for communication between the child and others. An intervener could be described as a consistent filter, communication cable, facilitator, or bridge.
An intervener does not control, create dependency, make decisions for the child, or stand as a barrier between the child and others.

The intervener must learn all about the child who is deafblind and appreciate her uniqueness. This person should have a secure understanding of the child's vision and hearing and how information is received. Much time will be spent learning about the child's personal system for information exchange. These things will be the basis for building a communication system that will eventually link the child to her environment and the people who are active within it.

A monitor and keyboard are cabled to a CPU of a computer so that information can be entered and returned. These pieces are not unlike the relationship between an intervener and the child with combined vision and hearing loss. The child, like the CPU, is a full of power but can only make an impact with the proper access pieces, otherwise, it will be left in the corner and the potential to positively impact the environment will be left undiscovered.

The child will gravitate toward her peers through learning. Curiosity equals learning and the intervener can fuel the child's motivation for curiosity. The intervener will help the child understand concepts and facilitate this transfer from the home environment so that concepts may be generalized to a variety of situations. The intervener ensures that the child has access to the results her trial and error learning so that education can occur. The constancy of the intervener will discourage stress in the child and allow her to learn more easily.

An intervener can chart behavior so that it can be understood as a means of communicating why the child is frustrated, hurt, etc. "Inappropriate" behavior is generally due to lack of information. Once the behavior is understood and communication systems are established then the proper information can be conveyed to the child.

An intervener can include a child with combined vision and hearing loss in class activities and limit problems of isolation by providing information to child and allowing her to interact with classmates. The intervener plays an important role in facilitating introductions of new people to the deafblind child and, over time, can release child to the new person. An overwhelming portion of learning is tertiary (comes from simple observation) and this incidental learning does not occur in individuals with sensory deprivation unless an intervener is constantly present to inform the child about who or what is around her and what is occurring with these people, situations, or objects.

It depends where you are from.

Intervener - American spelling
Intervenor - Canadian spelling

Answer taken from George Brown College's website

Intervenors are the eyes and ears for people who are both deaf and blind.

This program, the first and largest in Canada, was developed in partnership with a number of service providers and deafblind consumer associations.

The Intervenor for Deaf-Blind Persons program at George Brown College provides the knowledge and basic skills to work with children and adults who are deafblind, including individuals who may be medically fragile.

Intervenors make it possible for deafblind people to access information and to interact within their environment.

The program combines theory and practical experience, allowing participants to learn the specialized techniques of intervention including a variety of alternative communication methods. Skills are applied during the three field placements that consist of 28 days per semester in semesters 2, 3 and 4.

Further learning is enhanced by a variety of field excursions and guest speakers currently involved in the field.
Students must meet the requirements of the George Brown College preplacement student health passport before attending a field placement.

Note: All students in this program must have a police reference check completed before their field placement.

June 26, 2006

Joyce Thompson is a modern miracle worker.

For 30 years, this soft-spoken, ramrod strong and supremely sensitive 72-year-old woman has worked passionately to transform the lives of people with an unfathomable dual disability -- deafness and blindness.

As their advocate, she's their eyes, ears and voice. In her latest triumph, she was the heart, soul and conscience of a politically savvy campaign to educate then-minister of community and social services Sandra Pupatello about the desperate need for intervenor services so deafblind people can do what we take for granted -- shop, bank, go to the doctor, or interact with other people.

Her persistence dramatically paid off. On the first of June, which is Deafblindness Awareness Month, another of Thompson's initiatives, the Ontario government announced a landmark $11 million investment for intervenor and interpreter services.

NOT INTERPRETERS

Intervenors, not to be confused with interpreters, are specially trained professionals who help deafblind people communicate with each other and participate in society. Without an intervenor, a deafblind person's world is the span of an arm. They have no quality of life and live in unbearable loneliness, silence and shadows.

Thompson started volunteering in 1976 with CNIB's fledgling Deafblind Services, the first centre of its kind in Canada, when there was no government funding and deafblindness wasn't even a recognized disability.

"These were pioneer days. The entire population was hidden, with no support. We had to go out and find them in nursing homes and in totally isolated situations. Nobody knew there was anything you could do for them or ways to communicate with them," she said.

"It became a passion for me. I wanted to do something."

With no formal intervenor training available, Thompson taught herself to be an intervenor working with a young man, her first case, who had lived in solitude after leaving the Belleville Home for the Deaf in 1977.

Handling 50 cases at a time, she threw herself into learning as much as she could about the needs of the deafblind.

Since then, she has attended training courses, and participated and presented at dozens of conferences in the U.S. and farther afield.

In 1985, she researched and compiled the first-ever "Assistive Devices Manual for Persons who are Deafblind," after attending a world conference in Bahrain, Saudi Arabia.

Recognizing the crying need for a pool of intervenors to help these people live normal lives, Thompson was instrumental in starting a two-year intervenor diploma program now offered at George Brown College.

After completing a study of their housing needs in 1986, she began to formulate a dream -- an apartment complex where deafblind people could live independently with flexible, readily available intervenor services.

The Rotary Cheshire Homes opened in 1992 after seven years of Thompson's tireless campaigning, advocating, fundraising, wrangling with bureaucrats and working with architects, builders and engineers.

This pretty, neat, low-rise, red brick building in a quiet residential North York neighbourhood is the first and only apartment complex for deafblind people in the world.

With ingenious state-of-the-art technology and security, a tele-braille system in the lobby and vibrating pagers for all residents, smoke and fire alarm systems all work perfectly, Thompson says.

"If someone drops a stitch knitting or if they want to know what colour of socks to wear or if they want to go to the 'Y' or to a party or to church or to the doctor, they have 24-hour intervenor services, though 3 1/2 hours a day is the average need," she says.

SERVICES SCARCE

Most people living elsewhere are lucky to have three or four hours of intervenor services a week, if that.

To provide training, mobility and independent living skills, Thompson then began working toward the 2001 opening of the Canadian Helen Keller Centre, a residential facility a few blocks from Rotary Cheshire.

Former attorney-general and lawyer David S. Young said: "Joyce is a dynamo, one of the most selfless individuals I've ever encountered. She is as committed as she is concerned about ensuring that members of the deafblind community can fulfill their potential."

Last year, she helped six deafblind people launch a $50-million lawsuit against the province because they're so poorly served with intervenor services.

"You can't say no to deafblind people when they ask for services themselves, so I'm hoping one day they will be able to advocate for themselves," Thompson said, "We need deafblind people trained as public speakers to go on the road and spread the word."