Course Rationale

The field of deafblindness holds a wealth of skills and experience that has never previously been captured or translated into a form which could be formally taught to others.

The Diploma in Deafblind Studies came about as a result of a cooperative partnership between six agencies, each with different but complimentary interests in deafblindness. The partnership comprises Signature, Deafblind Scotland, Deafblind UK, RNIB, Sense and Sense Scotland. The Partners pooled their expertise and experience, to design and run a course that brings together knowledge from the field of congenital and acquired deafblindness and covers the full age spectrum. This is the first time that such a course has been available.

This project was initiated in order to:

1. Address the frustration felt by deafblind people and by practitioners and voluntary agencies working in the field of deafblindness at the poor standards of knowledge and expertise which were evident within the social care sector, the sector which is charged with delivering services to deafblind people. The direct result of this issue was a continual catalogue of omissions and mistakes in the type and level of service offered to deafblind people of all ages, both within the community and in care environments. Now, over two years of study, the course enables students to explore and challenge issues, guided by skilled practitioners and supported by deafblind people. The second year in particular extends the barriers of thinking and practice in this unique area.


2. Ensure that this highly skilled and specialist area of work is supported by a recognisable professional qualification. The partners had felt that the opportunities to learn and gain qualifications in this area was limited and did not reflect the complexity of issues faced by deafblind people and those who support them.

Over the course of the two pilot courses, the Certificate and Diploma was validated by the University of Birmingham, thus realising the aim to see a professional qualification in deafblindness take its place alongside other recognisable disciplines in the field of sensory disability. More recently the qualification was credit rated and levelled by the Scottish Qualifications Authority in Scotland and been recognised in relation to the phase registration of workers in the social care sector in Scotland.

As the Board looks to the future, it is keen to make the course available to a much broader group of practitioners both within and beyond the UK. The Board continues to consider ways of making components of the course available to individuals or groups. In order to achieve these developments the Board are delighted to be working with the Open University (from July 2009).