It is crucial that minimum standards for the accessibility of goods and services provided by public and private entities for persons with disabilities must consider persons with deafblindness as a group and consult with their representative organisations. Stakeholders, such as builders, planners, and service providers, may require training to sensitise them and to develop their technical knowledge^[i]. Accessibility standards for persons with deafblindness should be considered and applied to the following areas:

• Transportation
• Public buildings and pathways
• Schools
• Hospitals, clinics, and health centres
• Libraries, parks, and recreational facilities
• Television, radio, and other forms of media, such as websites
• Housing

Accessibility standards for person with deafblindness should consider information and communication as well as orientation and mobility. Wherever possible, universal design principles should be applied. Some key elements for the built environment include:

•  Adequate lighting
• Contrasting colours through paint, tape, stickers, or choice of colour of furniture or objects
• Colour coding, visual cues, and/or textural cues
• Glare reduction
• Large font and/or Braille signage
• Loop induction systems
• Vibration devices to help orient persons with deafblindness (e.g., at street crossings)
• Use of sound in a space or room (e.g., the ambient noise levels, using spaces that reflect or echo sound to help with echolocation, reducing noise from outside, etc.)
• Material finish
• Physical accessibility supports, such as handrails, door handles, level surfaces, etc.^[ii]

Having a barrier-free environment in cities and towns can help, such as not blocking the pathways, and providing accessibility features, such as spinning tactile devices installed into the control box at a pedestrian crossing and tactile paving to mark the edges of the pathway near roads or on train platforms. Accessibility tips should be provided to persons with deafblindness and their families to facilitate the adjustment of the home and financial supports should be provided if adaptations are too costly for individuals.

Information and communication should be available in a variety of formats, as the needs of persons with deafblindness vary from person to person. Many of these formats are relevant to other groups of persons with disabilities.

Some examples include:

• Braille / Moon, high contrast large print, audio description or describing images, audio versions, summary versions, and Easy Read versions
• Captioning with speaker identification, subtitling, textphone, SMS, sign language interpretation
• Augmentative and alternative modes and methods.

For virtual and live events accessibility considerations include:

• Speaking one person at a time
• Allowing time for translation and regular breaks
• Providing a name before speaking, captioning, or type chatting
• Making the face visible for lip reading
• Explaining visual aids
• Using high contrast and large print in presentations
• Providing captioning with speaker identification and/or sign language interpretation
• Sending documents or information in advance of meetings as a standard practice
• Taking notes to share afterward or recording the meeting, if all parties consent^[iii].

In addition to these accessibility standards, persons with deafblindness may also require reasonable accommodations, such as access to interpreter-guide/Deafblind interpreting services. However, adopting them will reduce the need for reasonable accommodation requests.

^[i] Ibid., para. 19.

^[ii] Deafblind Ontario Services, Accessibility Guidelines for Sensory Loss, 3^rd Edition, 2020, 13-97.

^[iii] Deaf Scotland, Making Zoom Accessible for People Who Are Deafblind, deafscotland.org, accessed May 2022.