(1) A “deaf-blind person” means the same as an “individual who is deaf-blind” and both mean any individual:

(A)

(i) Who has a central visual acuity of 20/200 or less in the better eye with corrective lenses, or a field defect such that the peripheral diameter of visual field subtends an angular distance no greater than twenty degrees (20°), or a progressive visual loss having a prognosis leading to one (1) or both these conditions;

(ii) Who has chronic hearing loss so severe that most speech cannot be understood with optimum amplification, or a progressive hearing loss having a prognosis leading to this condition; and

(iii) For whom the combination of vision and hearing loss described in subdivisions (1)(A)(i) and (ii) cause extreme difficulty in attaining independence in daily life activities, achieving psychosocial adjustment, or obtaining a vocation;

(B) Who despite the inability to be measured accurately for hearing and vision loss due to cognitive or behavioral constraints, or both, can be determined through functional and performance assessment to have severe hearing and visual disabilities that cause extreme difficulty in attaining independence in daily life activities, achieving psychosocial adjustment, or obtaining vocational objectives; or

(C) Meets such other requirements as the secretary may prescribe by regulation;

(2) A “deaf person” means a person whose hearing loss is total or whose hearing loss, with or without amplification, is so significant that the primary means of receiving spoken language is through visual input, including, but not limited to, speechreading, sign language, finger spelling, or writing; and

(3) “Secretary” means the United States secretary of education.