Protactile is a New Language to Enable DeafBlind Communication

It’s not often a new language emerges. But in the last 15 years, a new language was created in the Pacific Northwest: Protactile. Developed by DeafBlind people, the Protactile language places an emphasis on touch, which is a method of communication that many DeafBlind people prioritize.

Jelica Nuccio, one of the creators on this new language, recently moved to Monmouth, Oregon. There, the U.S. Department of Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration recently awarded Western Oregon University with a $2.1 million grant that will be used to train Protactile language interpreters.

DeafBlind people like Nuccio have traditionally used variations on sign language to communicate, but it can be easy to miss important details in a language that is designed to be seen. That’s a shortcoming in traditional languages that Protactile aims to overcome, restoring the depth of interpersonal communication to the language used by DeafBlind people.

To learn more about Protactile language, see the article from Oregon Public Broadcasting.