Tactile Communication

with the Deaf-Blind

From Guidelines Chapters 8 and
9

Tactile Communication
For people who are totally deaf and blind:
Meeting for the first time: give yourself
plenty of time to get used to each other
Use a gentle touch on the hand or back of
upper arm
Identify yourself every time: Dont play the
Who am I? game
Do not feel stuck because there is a hand
on yours

Dos and Donts

Accept more than half the responsibility for
good communication:
You have more information about the
immediate environment through sight and
hearing and
You have less drain of your energy
Dont feel stuck because you are being super
responsible (unless you are the SSP)
Dont hesitate to engage in short Hello type
conversations.

Adjusting to the Modality

Sign with smaller, slightly slower motions
Sign with distinct motions; Be crisp with
your signing
For your own comfort and that of DB
person, sign slightly lower than usual
Dont hold the DB persons fingers
Feeling the DBs hands on top of yours
may make you feel restricted and may
tempt you to sign very small

Adjusting to the Modality 2

Dont duck your head or shoulders for signs on
the head to meet your hands
FATHER, SICK, TASTE etc.
Dont switch back and forth with your signing
hands, use your dominant hand
Fingerspell slower but keep a consistent rhythm
Make sure the DB person knows whether or not
other people might hear or see your
conversation

Adjusting to the Modality 3

Practice signing and reading signs
tactually with other peers in class.
Communicating tactually for a long period
of time is both physically and mentally
fatiguing for the DB person.
If the DB persons hands are especially
heavy, ask them to lighten up
Pacing is important

Facial Expression
The tension, speed and other characteristics of
your hands and their movement often reflect
your overall mood

Use squeezes, pats and strokes

Beyond the natural changes in tension and

speed that come with changes in mood, make
an effort to be clear about how you are feeling:

Respond with Im thinking (rubbing your chin)

If you are laughing, sign HAHA or THATS FUNNY!

Setting the Scene

Let the DB person know where you are,
who is present in the situation and what
they are doing.
Let the DB person know about changes in
the environment
Tell the DB person about other peoples
responses
Tell the DB person what is happening
during any pauses

Setting the Scene 2

Think about a sense of place:

Share information about where you are if it is

interesting
Use touch if explanation is not enough

Notice and report details which give

character of the environment
Keep your friend up to date
Pass on the news

Overall Clarity
Indicate your purpose and the function of
your communication:

i.e., QUESTION, INFORM-YOU, WARN-YOU

Give the DB person feedback:

YES, WHAT?, WOW, REALLY, INCREDIBLE.

(Use signed responses to replace your head

nods, grins and shrugged shoulders)
Be sure you understand her, ask for
repetition or clarification

Overall Clarity 2
Be sure you are clear, and that the DB
person is receiving the correct message
Do not ramble
Before you talk, think about where you
want to begin
Be succinct and to the point:

Start with the topic then make your point,

elaboration follows. Allow the DB to check in,
verifying and making connections.

Overall Clarity 3
Watch out for misunderstandings, clarify if
necessary
Notice for example, which of your signs
tends to be misunderstood or not clearly
understood
Offer feedback to the DB person, Use
back channeling

Overall Clarity 4
If what you said is not clear, try to think why it might not
have been clear:
Common Reasons something is not understood:

The topic is not yet established ( what are we talking

about?)
The background, context or connection is not clear (why
are we talking about this, whats the implication?)
An unfamiliar Sign or term has been used,
Listener has conflicting information or idea that prevents
accepting/believing that is what you actually said,
Listener misunderstands the implications or
connotations and these do not make sense, and

The topic, comment or process is emotional and strong

feelings interfere with focus.

The Role of Context

Context consists of various aspects of the
situation

Where you are and what you are there for,

Who is there and what they are doing, and
What type of furniture, equipment and
material is present.
Think about the context of the people, this
group. Sometimes a little history is necessary
to have the comment make sense.

The Role of Context 2

Context includes the past:

Peoples relationships with each other,

Conversations that have gone before,
Decisions that have been made, rules that
have been passed,
Customs and traditions, and
Problems needing to be solved.

The Role of Context 3

Context includes possible implications

Predicted responses, and

Predicted consequences

Think about reasons as context

Ex: having pairs to partner as SSP: my reason is:

safety factors and liability issues, to a DB person, as
another form of oppression by the Deaf to the DeafBlind as it is difficult to schedule SSP services.

It helps us predict the potential for negotiation,

and the relative flexibility of the decision.

The Role of Context 4

Specifically think about:

Previous decisions or existent policies,

Customs and traditions,
History, what others have done, and
Peoples relationships with each other

Think about what is happening nonverbally as having meaning.

i.e., moving chairs around

The Role of Context 5

Think about the stationary environment as
meaningful context.

Ex: steps, include what kind, how many, what the

steps are attached to

Observe contextual clues consciously and pass

them on.

Ex: meeting someone carrying balloons, share this

information.

Convey the social context:

who is there, how are they dressed, what is the sense

of the groups age, generation, race, class, and/or
politics. Be specific, dont say, She is really old. Say,
she looks about 70 years old

The Role of Context 6

Context is indirect.

What are the others doing? If they are ready to leave,

inform the DB person too etc.

Think carefully about how much background is

appropriate. It also depends on the DB person.
Non-verbal responses are a part of the social
context. Inform about others expressions. i.e., a
smile, a frown etc.
If you are at a loss for something to say, let him
know what you see.

Tactile Language
Number One rule: We must look at DeafBlind people at who they are rather than
who they are not.
Number Two rule: Deaf-blind people come
from a variety of educational, life
experiences, and vision and hearing loss
therefore their communication preferences
vary. We must be open and
accommodating of their communication
preferences.

Tactile Language
Communication Modes: we should be
flexible which means each of us will:

Accept the need for change and growth

(learning),
Inform ourselves,
Be patient with ourselves and with each other,
and
Make some progress towards more efficient
and effective ways of communicating with the
other.

Making the Visual Tactile

Numbers are sometimes difficult to read tactually
so sometimes write the numbers on their palms
Use the persons palm to show relative spatial
relationships
Point the directions as well
Give some concrete indication of the distance
and landmarks

i.e., block on right etc.

Use palm and arm for several points or

landmarks.

Special Tactile Signs and Signals

Gentle pat to knee if sitting down, to
shoulder if youre standing up..
Short cuts to yes and no answers: two or
more taps for YES, one tap for NO or DB
person will put hand out to confirm, usually
NO requires more clarification than YES.
Draw a large X for emergencies
Draw a large T to leave the situation for
a short time.

Special Tactile Signs and Signals 2

When interrupting (politely) rule of thumb
is more urgent your interruption, the closer
to the DB persons hand you touch.
Use judgment and discretion in
interrupting a Deaf-Blind person

Communication always require full attention,

physical and mental
If person is busy, what do you do?

Very Slow Communication

Think carefully before you start and
organize what you are going to say in a
clear, logical order
Make your message short and to the point
Be careful what shortcuts you take
Think of what background information is
necessary to understand the present point
Think of other ways the Deaf-Blind person
can also get the same information

Very Slow Communication 2

Use check-ins
Dont let yourself become a target for
anger.
Try to pick a time to communicate when
you are not rushed, tired or otherwise
stressed out
Recruit a partner with whom you can do
things.
Watch to see what your level of tolerance
is.

Very Slow Communication 3

Try to balance the Deaf-Blind persons need for
immediate communication with her need to learn
a better (more efficient) form of communication
in the long term
If the DB person is open to the idea, help him
find and use resources for learning sign
It is not important that your signing be the right
way
Encourage the DB person to meet new people
and use this new means of communicating.

Limited Language
Cognitively impaired Deaf Blind
Limited exposure to language
Limited experiences
Need for exposure and education

Modifying Tactile Language

ASL Parameters:

Handshape
Orientation
Location and
Movement

If in doubt with a sign, repeat or fingerspell it

afterwards
Indexing: be sure DB person can feel the
numbers you signed
Signs that are hard to perceive are:
LATE, WALKING, BOWLING etc. Revise by
using classifiers or changing orientation

Modifying Tactile Language 2

Signs made on the face is difficult to distinguish
tactually i.e., mother, father
For minimal pairs, give more context i.e.,

Key, lock
Ugly, dry, summer
Cute, funny
Apple, onion

Context built in signs

i.e., sour, sour-candy, boring

Choose sign that is easily discernable

Signs near the waist is difficult to read tactually

i.e., pants, Russia etc.

Modifying Tactile Language 3

Palm orientation for classifiers:

i.e., door, table, pictures etc.

Use of classifiers to match environment

i.e., chair facing you or facing away

Be clear with your SASSes

(Size and Shape Specifiers) a big vs. small

box

Be consistent with locatives

Speaker is to your right, food table to your left

etc

Modifying Tactile Language 4

Use movement to match the mood,
emotion, feeling of your signing
Try to absorb the rhythm of experienced
signers signing tactually
Use question marks
Eye gaze is essential in ASL, include that
Add names to indexing pronouns
Indicating distances does not work
tactually, sign: ABOUT 5 MILES

Modifying Tactile Language 5

Modifying ASL grammar for tactual information.
i.e.,
1. You sure like ice cream!
ICE-CREAM YOU LIKE, WOW! IMPRESSED ME.
2. Dont you like ice cream?
?? ICE-CREAM DONT LIKE YOU??
SURPRISED/PUZZLED ME. SMILE, NEVER
SAW!
3. Do you like ice cream?
?? ICE-CREAM LIKE YOU??

Modifying Tactile Language 6

Use signs: Mary said, etc instead of role
shifting
Can show persons personality or affect
through signing
Opposition in space transfers well tactually

i.e, up, down, left, right, forward & backward

Movements with specific meanings are

clear tactually

i.e, repetition (temporal aspect) distributional,

plurality

Modifying Tactile Language 7

Make sure the discourse is clear
For comments made out of context, it is
generally a good idea to establish the
reasons that you are saying what you are
saying.

i.e., An interesting fact, or a funny story

A question, warning or caution.