When asked recently about working with people with dual sensory disabilities who do not identify as deafblind the below was my response.

Your issue with terminology is a common one across the world. It is up to an individual how they wish to identify. It is their choice if they want to be considered as, deafblind, dual sensory impaired, Deaf with low vision, or some other way of describing their vision and hearing impairments. It is useful for us as service providers and advocates to use the one term “deafblind” to refer to all people with combined vision and hearing impairments as we recognise they all share issues with access to communication, information, and to orienting themselves and moving around safely. There are two international organisations for this group and those who support them – Deafblind International, and the World Federation of the Deafblind. I’m aware that some people with deafblindness gain identity and pride from using this term and belonging to a community of people with similar challenges, but this is not true for all people we would consider to be deafblind. Having one term is useful for advocating and lobbying government, and for sourcing relevant information and professional development activities, but we do not need to encourage people to use this term themselves, it is up to them how they want to label their impairments if at all.