Question
I am currently in my second year of a degree course in psychology. I have been viewing a video about a lady called 'Julia' who is both deaf and blind and pregnant. The video follows her through her pregnancy and beyond the birth of her baby girl. There are various people involved with Julia's (and her babies) day to day care, this is obviously (made clear by her reactions in the video) not what Julia wants. She says she can cope without all these people "stomping" around in her home. My question is do you think Julia is really (considering she is both deaf and blind) capable of coping on her own with a tiny baby?

Answer
I don't think Julia is capable of looking after a baby on her own. It's very possible but it's the blindness. The deafness wouldn't be much of a problem because she could get those baby crying alert alarms (they go under your pillow or wherever and vibrate when the baby cries) Both these disabilities would limit her parenting skills-she might be loving and caring but she wouldn't be able to see if the baby got ill, was doing something dangerous (like fiddling with a plug. Not dangerously soiling its nappy) and looking after it would be very hard. Those people would seem extremely annoying to her, because it is her baby and most people want to bring it up their way. I think Julia should just have some occasional help.