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Vision to Communicate

Information on Blindness and Deafness

Vision toCommunicateInformation on Blindness and Deafness
Mini Bio: Helen Keller
How Helen Keller Learned to Talk.

Visual Impairment and Blindness

Key facts

  • 285 million people are estimated to be visually impaired worldwide: 39 million are blind and 246 have low vision.
  • About 90% of the world's visually impaired live in low-income settings.
  • 82% of people living with blindness are aged 50 and above.
  • Globally, uncorrected refractive errors are the main cause of moderate and severe visual impairment; cataracts remain the leading cause of blindness in middle- and low-income countries.
  • The number of people visually impaired from infectious diseases has reduced in the last 20 years according to global estimates work.
  • 80% of all visual impairment can be prevented or cured.

Overcoming obstacles

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John Bramblitt

John lost his vision in 2001 when he was 30 years old due to complications from epilepsy. At first, John says he lost hope and was in a deep depression, but then he found an outlet: painting. Since John can't see colors, he has developed a process whereby he paints by touch. According to the artist, the colors feel different to him: white is thick and black is a little runny, so when he needs gray, he mixes the two until the texture is right. His art has been sold in over twenty countries and he has appeared internationally in print, TV, and radio. His work has received much recognition, including the "Most Inspirational Video of 2008" from YouTube and three Presidential Service Awards for his innovative art workshops.
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Martha Runyan

When Marla Runyan was 9 years old she developed Stargardt's Disease, a form of macular degeneration that left her legally blind, but that never stopped her. In 1987 she went on to study at San Diego State University, where she began competing in several sporting events, and her career took off until she won four gold medals at the 1992 Summer Paralympics, and at the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta she took silver in the shot put and gold in the pentathlon.
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Christine Ha

Chefs rely heavily on their sense of taste and smell to cook – especially if they're blind, like the winner of the 2012 MasterChef TV Show, Christine Hà. In 2004 she was diagnosed with neuromyelitis optica and gradually started losing her vision, and was almost completely blind by 2007.

Sound of Communication

Phillip Phillips' "Home" in ASL by Deaf Film Camp at CM7
Pharrell's "Happy" in ASL by Deaf Film Camp at CM7
OneRepublic "Feel Again" in ASL by Azora
"See You Again"--Wiz Khalifa and Charlie Puth (ASL Cover) Music Video
"100 Basic Signs" (American Sign Language) (www.lifeprint.com)

National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD)

Quick Statistics

Compiled by the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD).

  • About 2 to 3 out of every 1,000 children in the United States are born with a detectable level of hearing loss in one or both ears.1
  • Roughly 10 percent of the U.S. adult population, or about 25 million Americans, has experienced tinnitus lasting at least five minutes in the past year.2
  • Men are more likely to experience hearing loss than women.
  • Of adults ages 65 and older in the United States, 12.3 percent of men and nearly 14 percent of women are affected by tinnitus. Tinnitus is identified more frequently in white individuals and the prevalence of tinnitus is almost twice as frequent in the South as in the Northeast.
  • Approximately 17 percent (36 million) of American adults report some degree of hearing loss.
  • There is a strong relationship between age and reported hearing loss: 18 percent of American adults 45-64 years old, 30 percent of adults 65-74 years old, and 47 percent of adults 75 years old or older have a hearing loss.
  • The NIDCD estimates that approximately 15 percent (26 million) of Americans between the ages of 20 and 69 have high frequency hearing loss due to exposure to loud sounds or noise at work or in leisure activities.
  • Only 1 out of 5 people who could benefit from a hearing aid actually wears one.
  • Three out of 4 children experience ear infection (otitis media) by the time they are 3 years old.
  • Approximately 188,000 people worldwide have received cochlear implants. In the United States, roughly 41,500 adults and 25,500 children have received them.
  • Approximately 4,000 new cases of sudden deafness occur each year in the United States. Hearing loss affects only 1 ear in 9 out of 10 people who experience sudden deafness. Only 10 to 15 percent of patients with sudden deafness know what caused their loss.
  • Approximately 615,000 individuals have been diagnosed with Ménière's disease in the United States. Another 45,500 are newly diagnosed each year.
  • Approximately 3 to 6 percent of all deaf children and perhaps another 3 to 6 percent of hard-of-hearing children have Usher syndrome. In developed countries such as the United States, about 4 babies in every 100,000 births have Usher syndrome.
  • One out of every 100,000 individuals per year develops an acoustic neuroma (vestibular schwannoma).