ABSTRACT
Communication is a crucial part of home-life. It includes interactions, both face-to-face and remotely, with others living in the household, friends/relatives and service providers. Deafblindness is a combination of vision and hearing impairment, which causes difficulties with mobility, communication and access to information. Effective communication is crucial to quality of life. It forms the foundations of healthy family relationships and friendships, which are important to well being. The two most widely used methods of English-based tactile communication are Braille and fingerspelling. Many issues arise when using tactile communication. This chapter focuses on four areas: attitudes, concurrent tasks, speed and nonverbal communication. The British are well known for our inhibitions about touching. For some people, discomfort with using touch acts as an attitudinal barrier to the use of tactile fingerspelling. One of the most immediately obvious issues with tactile communication is that it occupies the hands. Thus it becomes impossible to do much else whilst communicating.
