Living with deafblindness during COVID-19: An international webinar to facilitate global knowledge translation

Abstract

Arguably, individuals living with deafblindness are among the hardest hit by the effects of the corona virus disease of 2019 (COVID- 19), given the importance of the sense of touch for their ability to interact with the world. To address this challenge, it is imperative to facilitate the implementation of evidence- and experience-based recommendations, and to improve knowledge translation on a global scale. Deafblind International organized a webinar to provide a platform where participants could exchange experiences and solutions to overcome the challenges created by the arrival of COVID-19, in order to facilitate information exchange among stakeholders in deafblindness during this pandemic. We present an overview of its content here and place the summarized themes in context with existing research literature. Abstract submission was open for 4 weeks in May 2020, resulting in 30 submissions from 13 countries across 5 continents. Of the 26 presenter teams, 9 (35%) had a co-presenter that was living with deafblindness themselves. The number of individual participants across all sessions ranged from 55 to 140 ( M = 98), with a total of 3709 session registrations overall, and the organizers estimate a total attendance of around 400 participants. Based on extensive field notes taken during the webinar, and repeated viewing of the recordings, qualitative description allowed the team to synthesize eight principal themes across the event: access to information, communication, service accessibility, adaptations to service delivery, online safety and security, physical distancing, mental health and research. The first Deafblind International webinar was able to fill an important gap by bringing together a variety of stakeholders in deafblindness across the globe. The event created a sense of group membership and peer support, brought the participants, researchers, the professionals as well as their service agencies closer together and generated a sense of hope and collaboration.

Methodological Approaches to Obtaining Informed Consent when Conducting Research With Individuals With Deafblindness

“…(1) The research team initiates the recruitment process by providing the community partner (e.g., a rehabilitation centre) with eligibility criteria for the study. Such collaborations with organizations that work with and for persons with deafblindness provide access to the population of interest, open the door to co-creation, and facilitate opportunities for knowledge translation once the studies are completed (Wittich et al, 2022). ( 2) These criteria are used by the archives, admission services or program managers to internally generate a list of potential participants.…”

Continuum of Care for Older Adults With Concurrent Hearing and Vision Impairment: A Systematic Review

“…This becomes even more important knowing that older adults with DSI perceive twice as much discrimination in their daily life as those without DSI, mostly due to the communication barrier ( Shakarchi et al, 2020 ), and often rely on companions to accompany them during medical visits to facilitate communication ( Reed et al, 2020 ). With the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic, emerging evidence highlights that the restrictions on accompanying visitors and the use of personal protective equipment, such as masks, posed an additional barrier to health care communication and access to care for this group that needs to be further explored in future studies ( Jaiswal et al, 2021a , 2022 ; Wittich et al, 2021 ).…”

Building a More Accessible Conference for Researchers With Vision Impairment

“…2,3 Virtual conferences also address some of the accessibility issues of in-person conferences. 4 For researchers with vision disabilities, attending an online conference requires no travel or navigation in an unfamiliar environment. Presentations and program materials can be easier to access on a personal electronic device.…”

“…When conferences were held virtually during the pandemic, the scientific community recognized several advantages, such as higher attendance, more diverse attendees, reduced financial and logistical barriers, and reduced carbon footprints . Virtual conferences also address some of the accessibility issues of in-person conferences …”