When Physical Distancing means Losing Touch: COVID-19 and Deafblind People

On 20th March 2020, the World Health Organisation declared its preference for the term ?physical distancing? over ?social distancing?, a move supported by many health experts, academics, social workers and governments. This term is indeed clearer and more accurate, and it emphasises the importance of maintaining social connection, particularly now. Isolation can have a negative effect on our mental well-being: we must stay physically distant but not socially disconnected. But what about those for whom the physical and the social are not so easily separated? Those who rely on physical contact for communication, for access to information, and for safe travel. Those for whom physical contact is a way in which friendship is expressed and through which they understand the world around them. This is the reality of many deafblind people.