Craig MacLean signs with a vendor at the Christmas craft fair. y= Fair puts spotlight on deaf-blind needs Crafts created by artists raise money for advocacy a raig MacLean is work- ing hard to make sure his son will grow up in a more accessible world. MacLean’s 11-year-old son Chase lives with CAPOS | syndrome, an uncommon genetic condi- tion that affects hearing and vi- sion, among other things. As he grows up, Chase’s hearing and vi- sion will deteriorate until he won't be able to rely on audio or visual cues to navigate his environment. MacLean knows what this is like because he also has CAPOS. He is deaf-blind, meaning he has limited vision and hearing. This combina- tion of sensory loss makes the ex- perience and needs of a person who is deaf-blind unique from that of someone who is solely blind or deaf. “We have support for blind people, interpreters for deaf people, but there’s not really any support for deaf-blind people. ‘That’s. missing,” MacLean said. eZ /\ i) | Vendors at the craft fair sold handmade purses, holiday cards, paintings and more. A Christmas craft fair at the River Market in New Westminster last weekend raised money for the Deaf-Blind Planning Committee, a group committed to advocating for the needs of the deaf-blind com- munity. Vendors of varying disabil- ities and abilities sold Christmas cards, paintings and decorations at the 22nd annual fair. Second-year students in Douglas College’s sign language interpreta- tion program volunteered at the fair to interpret for vendors and shop- pers not fluent in American Sign Language. MacLean is chair of the com- mittee, which was created in 2012 to address the complete lack of pro- fessional intervenors for deaf-blind adults in B.C. “Deaf-blind can’t depend on in- terpreters,” MacLean said. “It’s very indirect.” An intervenor is a person who works with deaf-blind individu- als, and acts as their eyes and ears. Intervenors provide informa- tion about the environment that a deaf-blind individual can't gath- er on their own, like explaining what the weather is like outside, and describing who is in a room. Intervenors can also use a tactile version of sign language. This is es- pecially important for individuals with very limited vision who can't see signs clearly. The deaf-blind individual places their hands over the in- tervenors hands while they're signing to communicate. Eddy Morten, another commit- tee member, said the lack of inter- venor services leaves him feeling isolated. Other committee members agreed and added that they often feel unsafe going out in the community. Morten said that people often think that deaf-blind people are not intel- lectually capable and can’t function properly because of their disability. The B.C. government distinguish- es between deaf-blind individuals whose hearing and vision have de- teriorated over time, and those who were born deaf and blind, MacLean said. Intervenor services do exist for children in schools. But for adults who have slowly lost vision and sight, support is un- available. The office of the B.C. Accessibil- ity Secretariat did not respond to an interview request. “Because there’s no interve- nor services right now, as he grows up, he'll be in the same situation as me, without vision or hearing, and no one to sup- port his needs,” MacLean said as his son ran around the craft fair. The Deaf-Blind Planning Com- mittee will host the annual Deaf- Blind Awareness Week at River Market in June.