MSP SPEAKS OUT DURING DEAFBLIND AWARENESS WEEK

DEAFBLIND people are living in terrifying circumstances according to Scotland’s leading charity based in East Dunbartonshire.

Deafblind Scotland met with Rona Mackay MSP on Monday, June 20 to update the elected representative on progress of building a 710Square Metre centre in Lenzie, at its ‘Field of Dreams’ site. The field of Dreams dream has been an ambition for nearly 10 years with the fundraising in earnest for the last 5 years and it is now almost at the £1.5million target.

Ruth Dorman, Chief Executive, and Suzanne Abbate, Operations Manager, of Deafblind Scotland said people are living in “nightmare” conditions who have varying degrees of deafness and blindness.

The Strathkelvin and Bearsden MSP was shocked by the real life accounts given by the charity and has submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament to praise the work it has done. It comes during Deafblind Awareness Week, June 19 to 25.

Ms Mackay said: “Having to endure life with both blindness and deafness must be incredibly hard. It’s awfully difficult for anyone to imagine the struggle individuals go through on a day-to-day basis.

“Many people loose their sight and hearing at different times, some have a loss of one from birth and acquire the other loss, there is a spectrum of deaf blindness which individuals sit on this can vary greatly, however Ruth has told me stories of deaf people who become blind, who are literally thrust into a nightmare situation where they have lost their means of communicating, usually BSL. It’s so hard to even imagine how scary that must be.

“I am so humbled by the experiences and work Ruth and Suzanne have told me about. I fully endorse their work. Deafblind Scotland has done so well to get to this point and I wish them the best of luck for starting the construction of the new facility in Lenzie.

“During Deafblind Awareness Week I submitted a motion to the Scottish Parliament commending the work they do and are set to continue on a larger scale.”

Ruth Dorman, Chief Executive of Deafblind Scotland, said: “It’s important as many people know about the struggles people living with degrees of deafblindness  have to go through on a day-to-day basis. We’d like to thank Ms Mackay for submitting a motion to the Scottish Parliament – this helps raise awareness of the challenges deafblind people face and the work we’re doing.”