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DOCUMENTARY: Without a Language

David Pyle was born both deaf and blind. Considered "uneducatable" by his pre school teachers, David never learned a formal sign language. Today, at age 32, David is considered developmentally disabled. He uses minimal gestures to communicate.

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David Pyle was born both deaf and blind. Considered "uneducatable" by his pre school teachers, David never learned a formal sign language. Today, at age 32, David is considered developmentally disabled. He uses minimal gestures to communicate. © Karen Ducey
  
David reaches for the hand that is there every morning when he wakes up. © Karen Ducey
   
David has never been expected to do anything for himself. He lives in an apartment with one roomate and receives 24-hour intensive support care. He relies on respite workers to take care of even his most basic needs. © Karen Ducey
     
  
Symbols representing objects are used to let David know what he will be having for breakfast. They are placed on the table at the same time as his food and he doesn't seem to know they are there. © Karen Ducey
   
Totally dependent on others, David seems to find securityin human contact. © Karen Ducey
   
When David is taken swimming each week, he just floats, sometimes for the entire session. In the water he experiences what hydrotherapists call "body awareness", a realization of his physical nature. © Karen Ducey
     
  
David reaches, perhaps as a way of seeing with his hands. © Karen Ducey
   
Like other deaf-blind people, David finds pleasure in self stimulation, including spinning. © Karen Ducey
   
On most Thursdays, volunteers take David horseback riding. For reasons unexplicable to him, he goes up and down, side to side, forward and around. He seems to find great pleasure in experiencing the three dimensions in motion. © Karen Ducey