Month: February 2018

Yesterday the international meeting of deaf and hearing participants in Hirschluch ended; here is a short review by a little video, thanks to Alison Vere, our interpreter from Malta:

What is the Usher Syndrome?

The Usher Syndrome the most common condition affecting vision and hearing as well. It is a rare genetic disorder which is the main cause of deaf-blindness.

What are the symptoms of Usher Syndrome:

Symptoms of Usher Syndrome include:
– deafness or increasing loss of hearing
– Retinitis Pigmentosa
– difficulties in balancing
– tunnel vision

Usher Syndrome is a various condition in that the degree of severity is not connected to what clinical type someone has.

Usher Syndrome is genetic. It is a recessive condition, meaning that both parents must carry the gene in order for a person to get this syndrome.

Normal vision vs. Usher Syndrome

Usher Syndrome can divide into three clinical types:

Usher type 1

People with Usher Syndrome type 1 are born profoundly deaf and begin to lose their vision in the first years of life. They are impaired in their ability to learn how to walk.

 

 

Usher type 2

People with Usher Syndrome type 2 have hearing loss. They do not seem to have noticeable problems with balance and begin losing vision in the second decade of life.

 

Usher type 3

People with Usher Syndrome type 3 are not born deaf. They experience a gradual loss of hearing and vision.

 

What to expect from Usher Syndrome

Nowadays Usher Syndrome is not a curable disorder. The best treatment includes early diagnosis, so that educational programs can start as soon as possible. Treatment may also include the use of hearing aids, assistive listening devices, implants, other communication methods, orientation and mobility training and low vision or Braille services.

 

Walking with friends on the sand dune and having a beautiful time.

Our great accomodation in Hirschluch.

We meet in a common area every day, have discussions and do various activities.

Another day in Hirschuch began after the trip to Berlin, everyone semed to be still tired but happy. The tasty breakfast helped. The programme started with the presentation of the posters we created on Tuesday. The presentations were emotional and there were some very interesting discussions. Then we had a short outdoor activity based on self reflection. After that we devided into two groups and had to discuss in a friendly way the positive and negative perspectives towards the other group. After those reflection activities we had lunch break. Some where wiriting the blog, some were playing human table soccer and others were preparing the culture evering. In the afternoon we started with discussing the topic “How to make a viral video”. After we gave our oppinons we saw some videos. Then Stefan showed us, how to make a video in the movie maker. We split again into two mixed groups. Our task was to plan a promotional videos, but we didn’t finish it before it was time for the national reflection groups and dinner. The evening programme started with the cultural evening of the hearing people. They made some funny sketches, then we saw the videos of Malta and some ones from the first day. We also played several funny games. Everyone had fun in the evening.