Building up Social-Haptic Signs: The Portuguese Team

Social-haptic communication (SHC) enables interaction for Deafblind and Deaf people with low vision but remains underutilized in Portugal due to geographical dispersion and lack of specialized training. This paper examines work from March to November 2022 within the international Social Haptic Signs project, documenting 24 haptic signs used by Portuguese Deafblind people, contributing to 80 national haptic signs published by the project. It details this pilot initiative’s methodology and aims to advance understanding of SHC’s importance for improving communication accessibility among the Deafblind community in Portugal.