Helen Keller’s birthday and Deafblind Awareness Week mark the perfect time to follow more Deafblind influencers. Here are some I follow, and if you know more tag them in the comments.

• Catarina Rivera @BlindishLatina
• Dr. Jasmine Simmons @DrJasmineSimmons
• Loni Friedman @L.Friedmann
• Rebecca Alexander @RebeccaAlexander
• Molly Watt @MollyWattTalks
• Ashlea Brittney Hayes @AshleaBrittney
• Elsa Sjunneson @snarkbat

Descriptive Transcript

Wearing a soft, stylized floral necklace over a blue dress, Haben speaks to the camera. Behind her is a textured wood wall.

Haben: It’s DeafBlind Awareness Week, and Helen Keller’s birthday is June 27th.

Photo: 24-year-old Helen holds a rose to her face while her other hand rests on an open Braille book. Her eyes are closed, her hair is pulled back into a low bun, and she’s wearing a white blouse with a bow at the front of her throat.

Haben: So we use this week to increase awareness. Helen lived from 1880 to 1968. And what I find fascinating is that many of the questions she received during her lifetime: “Why do you travel if you can’t see? How do you have a voice when you can’t hear?” Those questions are still being asked today. And part of that is because we still have an ocular-centric culture. We still need to move away from only imagining a world with sight, to imagining and designing a multisensory world. Helen loved traveling and speaking. She visited so many countries!

Photo: Sitting in a boat, Helen Keller stretches out a hand to a swan. It’s beak is near her fingers.

Haben: Helen had a powerful voice. She lost her hearing very early on as a kid, and as she was growing up, she noticed that only people who were speaking with audible voices were being heard and respected. So she spent thousands of hours learning how to speak with a voice that people could hear. That was exhausting. And a lot of deaf kids and parents have to grapple with the question of: Do we put people through thousands of hours of speech training or do we use those hours for mathematics, geography, and other classes that nondisabled students are taking? That’s a huge question, and I wish we did not have to grapple with that. I wish we had a culture where all voices were valued. Everyone has a voice. But because of ableism, racism, sexism and other forms of systemic oppression, a lot of voices are not heard.

Photo: 34-year-old Helen listens through her hand as Annie fingerspells. Annie stands beside Helen as she signs into her hand, while Helen is seated. Across the table from Helen, a woman observes the conversation.

Haben: Signing is just as valuable as using an audible voice. Both are voices, both deserve respect. So whether one speaks with an accent, whether one types what they need to say, or maybe someone has a voice that you don’t quite understand, that’s an opportunity to take patience and try to learn to understand different kinds of voices.

So as part of Deafblind Awareness Week, I invite you to start listening, reading, and watching more Deafblind voices. With all the different ways we communicate, whether through the written word or signing. And in this post, I’m going to share several Deafblind people you can follow on social media. There are a lot of us out there, so diversify your feed and listen to more Deafblind voices.

Hotels embracing accessibility win more customers. The Almåsa Sea Hotel owned by Sweden’s Visually Impaired Foundation has multi-sensory experiences enjoyed by both blind and sighted guests.

Descriptive Transcript

A paved path, with a railing, guides visitors through a fragrant garden. Seeing Eye dog Mylo and Haben stride along the path toward a dock over gently rolling waves.

Haben: Along the Baltic Sea, there’s a place where you can recharge, relax, and support the Swedish Association of the Visually Impaired.

Stairs lead up to a stately building with pillars lining the entrance. Haben and Mylo bypass the main entrance, pass a person in a suit typing on their phone, and walk toward a step-free side door with an automated door opener.

Haben: This is about an hour from Stockholm. Almåsa Hotel.

Photo: Haben and Mylo stand in a small patch of sunlight, Haben’s hand rests on the edge of a flower box filled with pink, orange, and yellow flowers. Above the flower box, large 3D letters, in print and Braille, pop against a black wall. It says: “Almåsa Havshotell.”

Haben: This was the first time I got a braille menu in Sweden!

Photo: Haben’s hand over a white page of Braille.

Haben: Dessert! Mjölkchokladterrine, basilikaglass, jordgubbscreme kaksmulor.

Her hands glide across the Braille page as she reads out loud with an American accent. Beside her on the circular table, a ceramic bowl holds the dessert.
Photo: Close-up of the dessert bowl with a chocolate fudge bar topped with a violet and surrounded by dollops of bright-red strawberry cream with large berries. Nearby, a scoop of green ice cream sits on a bed of white cake crumbles. A soft, bright pink, maple leaf shaped candy tops the ice cream.

She reads a gold-colored, metal sign on the side of a red, wooden building.

Haben: Along the paths, around Almåsa, there’s also Braille signage.

The audio cuts to her reading the sign.

Haben: I – L – L – A – N. Strandvillan.

She stands in front of the glass double doors to the hotel. A high-pitched blackbird whistle plays from a small, red speaker above the door.

Haben: They’re using sound to give people signals of where they are. There’s a kind of bird sound to indicate where this specific door is. And then there’s another kind of water sound to let you know about another door into the building.

The camera pans to the main entrance with the staircase.

(Water bubbling)

Haben: So there are different ways to communicate information by sound, by sight…

She stands in front of another red speaker. Behind her, green foliage fills the frame.

Haben: And for the start of the forest trail…

(Cuckoo call)

Back inside the restaurant, Haben reads at the round table that has glasses, her BrailleNote, and the keyboard. Sun streams in through a window, and Mylo rests on the floor.

Haben: I was not really able to get a lot from the sound signals as a Deafblind person, but I’ve heard from blind people that it’s a cool way to be able to know where you are. In addition to also hearing the ocean sounds and the waves.

The camera pans over the sea, soft waves lapping at the dock. Haben smiles holding the ILY sign, with Mylo standing beside her.

Haben: A lot of the paths have ropes.

Photo: A weathered rope connects to the wooden railing of a dock.

Haben: So you can hold and follow the ropes to help you get places.

We cut to a video of Haben and Mylo walking down a concrete pathway toward the sea.

Haben: Or you can use your white cane or you can use your guide dog. Lots of guide dogs come here. And it’s important to make sure blind people have choices. We have had access to different trainings, resources. Some people have had training on how to use a cane. Some haven’t. So by creating multiple ways to navigate a space, you support people with different levels of experience and training.

The video slowly zooms out on the image of the rope leading to the dock, revealing a small wooden building at the end of the dock. The setting sun paints the sky in soft orange, yellow, and blue.

Haben: And if you keep following the ropes, they will take you to a classic Swedish experience: the sauna.

They stand near the end of the dock. Haben has one hand on the door knob, and The glass door of the sauna reflects Mylo. He fidgets and whines at first, then lies down.

Haben: This is a sauna on a moving, bouncing dock. And every time the waves hit the dock, we’re bouncing up and down a little bit, and on the other side, there’s a ladder going down.

She gestures behind her to the metal guide rails of the ladder that are secured to the dock. The rest of the ladder disappears into the green-blue water below.

Haben: So if you want to cold plunge first before your sauna or after your sauna, you’ve got those choices.

Mylo and Haben quickly walk back up the dock away from the water.

Haben: My feet never touched the water and I was already freezing! Would you do a cold plunge?