I can't imagine being deaf or blind from birth. Never seeing the look of joy or sadness on the face of a loved one, or rainbows or imagined shapes in fluffy clouds. Never hearing the laughter of a baby or a child's first words, the sounds of nature or a big bustling city. Many people learned to live with deafness or blindness by attending a special school.
No one in our family was born deaf, but slowly became deaf with age. I remember as a child when visiting my great grandmother we had to yell in her ear for her to hear us. Then her daughter, my grandmother, became deaf. She also developed glaucoma and became blind. Her daughter, my mother, got her first hearing aid in her 60's. My Dad also went deaf due to his time in the military and my kids and I used to laugh at the two of them carrying on two separate conversations. Her hearing gradually went from bad to worse and she now has only 10% hearing in one ear. She doesn't bother with a phone, we just email or text each other. And... you guessed it, I am going deaf also.
Granny on the horn - 1980
In the village where I grew up there was a man who was blind. His wife would take him and his wagon full of wares around town as he sold brooms and mops. His wife also would drop him at our house to tune our piano. It amazed me that he could do that just by feeling the many wires, hammers and tuning pins and listening to the tones.
If you have an ancestor who was deaf or blind they may have attended a specialized school.
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