The Formation of the Guide-interpreter to Work with Deafblind People

Abstract

This paper aims to present the main characteristics of the professional who works directly with individuals with acquired deafblindness: the guide-interpreter, in addition, to address the differences between deafblindness and multiple disabilities and explain the characteristics of congenital deafblindness and acquired deafblindness. In this study, a research was conducted with professionals who underwent the guide-interpreter training course in 2016. Fourteen professionals who completed the course participated in the study. In this research, we seek to understand: the profile of individuals who seek and perform the guide-interpreter training course; the main forms of communication used with the deafblinds during the course and whether these newly-trained guide-interpreters have been professionally inserted as a guide-interpreter in the job market. The results contemplate that most of the professionals already work using sign language, but during the training course the form of communication most used with the deafblinds was the extended speech.