How innovative resource hub will benefit persons with deafblindness

As the government and society advance digital agendas, persons with disabilities—especially those with deafblindness—are often left behind.

Deafblindness is a unique and complex disability that affects both hearing and vision, significantly impacting communication, mobility, and access to information.

In response to this exclusion, Sense International Kenya has launched an innovative online platform, the Global Deafblindness Resource Hub (GDRH), designed specifically to address the needs of persons with deafblindness, their families, teachers, caregivers, and service providers.

The platform offers accessible, practical, and empowering tools that help close the digital divide and foster inclusion in education, livelihoods, and everyday life.

In Kenya, over one million people live with mild deafblindness, and about 100,000 with severe cases. Globally, 157 million people live with deafblindness.

Daniel Musango, Country Programme Lead for Sense International Kenya, explains that the hub offers information in accessible formats, such as screen reader-friendly text, Braille-ready files, large print, and in seven languages—including Swahili, English, Hindi, Spanish, Romanian, Nepali, and Bangla.

“This ensures persons with deafblindness can access knowledge in a format they understand and can use independently or with minimal support,” he explains.

Musango adds that the challenges people with disabilities face in securing employment and other opportunities often begin in the early stages of education, where access to quality, inclusive learning remains limited.

“In many cases, adapted classroom materials simply aren’t available, especially in mainstream schools, making it difficult to provide the kind of support that learners with disabilities—such as those with deafblindness—need,” he says.

The hub includes tutorials and guides on how deafblind persons can start basic income-generating projects, such as inclusive soap-making. These resources are step-by-step and suggest working with a caregiver, making them practical and easy to implement. This promotes self-employment and long-term independence.

It also connects users to local services, organizations, and communities, while amplifying the voices of persons with deafblindness, promoting advocacy, and influencing policy at both national and global levels.

Teachers managing schools with disability or deafblind units welcome the launch of the hub, saying it will transform how they support learners with special needs.

Barrack Odhiambo, head teacher of Maseno School for the Deaf, reveals that the organization established a resource hub at the school and provided tablets loaded with educational content from the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development (KICD) and eKitabu that greatly assist learners with disabilities.

The tablets include essential learning tailored to the specific needs of deafblind learners, such as activities of daily living, communication, and orientation.

Odhiambo explains that the hub also engages parents and caregivers by giving them access to manuals, toolkits, and home-based learning guides—from basic therapy to sensory integration techniques.

This means learning doesn’t stop at school, as families are empowered to support their children’s development at home, especially during holidays or in areas where school access is limited.

“Using these devices, teachers and learners can log into the hub—a comprehensive platform that provides access to essential learning areas such as communication, social skills, play and leisure activities, perceptual skills, and home-based physiotherapy. This resource helps to enrich and reinforce the existing educational materials,” Odhiambo says.

Joyce Walowe, Head of the Deafblind Unit at Kwale School for the Deaf, also appreciates the new hub, calling it a timely and transformative initiative, as it bridges the digital divide, fosters independence, and promotes inclusion for one of the most marginalized groups in society.

“The hub is a game-changer, especially for us teachers in special units. It enhances our capacity to offer inclusive and quality education,” she says.

Joyce adds that they can now access training materials, digital content, and best practices for supporting learners with complex disabilities such as deafblindness.

Musango reveals that the hub currently offers over 150 resources, including guides and toolkits. They hope to increase this to about 500 within the next year and approximately 10,000 over the next three years.

These resources are accessible online and can be downloaded in both PDF and Word formats to ensure inclusivity. The addition of videos—with subtitles and transcripts—is currently underway.

Fred Haga, Director of Special Needs Education at the Ministry of Education, emphasizes that persons with deafblindness require specialized accommodations, and the Ministry is committed to supporting them through every possible avenue.

He notes that this is why the Ministry, in collaboration with the Teachers Service Commission and the Kenya Institute of Special Education (KISE), has taken steps to train educators specifically in the area of deafblindness.

“These trained professionals are then deployed to schools to ensure that learners who are deafblind have access to education,” Haga says.

He adds that the Ministry provides enhanced capitation for learners with special needs, including those who are deafblind. “In fact, learners who are deafblind receive additional resources, beyond the enhanced support provided to other learners with special needs.”

Haga praises the organization for leading the development of a home-based learning policy, which allows learners with deafblindness who are not yet ready to attend school to receive services in their home environment, helping them gradually transition into formal education.

“Recognizing that some children have high levels of dependency, Sense International pushed for inclusion of other professionals to support these learners effectively,” he says.

Haga acknowledges that in Kenya, there are persons with deafblindness who are gifted, but they have been failed by societal attitudes, cultural barriers, limited resources, and a lack of opportunities.

Dr. Joseph Wambua, Senior Principal Curriculum Development Officer for eLearning at KICD, emphasizes the importance of inclusive education, stating that learners with disabilities should be provided with educational materials equivalent to those used by other learners.

He says that during curriculum development, KICD ensures that no learner is left behind, including those with special needs.

“Since the inception of the Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC) in 2017, once we developed the curriculum for regular learners, we immediately adapted it for learners with disabilities—including those with visual, hearing, and physical impairments,” says Dr. Wambua.

He affirms KICD’s continued commitment to innovation, particularly in the development of an adapted curriculum specifically designed for learners with deafblindness.