New touch-based language by DeafBlind people: Protactile

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This is a new language that could change the lives of thousands of DeafBlind people. It's called Protactile, or PT, and it's based entirely on the sense of touch.

PT emerged in the DeafBlind community in 2007, and it's still evolving and spreading. I'm going to tell her I want the palm of her hand.

This is Jaimi Lard. She and her hearing and sighted interpreter, Christine Dwyer, have incorporated elements of PT in their communication.

I've known her for 30 years, and we have changed the way we communicate. For our interview, Jaimi speaks in American Sign Language, which Christine interprets.

By getting it tactiley, we were able to be included in more. So I was born deaf and blind.

Jaimi works as a Diversity Speaker at Perkins School for the Blind. Growing up, she learned American Sign Language, or ASL.

That's one of the ways DeafBlind people communicate: by placing one's hand over the speaker's to feel what they're signing. But there's a problem.

So American Sign Language is a visual language. ASL is designed for sighted deaf people. It's meant to be seen.

And many gestures that make sense to your eyes make little sense when you touch them. There were things I was misunderstanding.

I just began to do a nod, and go along with things, but I wasn't always sure what I was going along with. It's the type of passivity that could hurt DeafBlind people's autonomy and independence.

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