Simona Gerenčer Pegan

She is a university graduate in social work, a Slovenian sign language interpreter, a deaf-blind interpreter and supervisor in the area of social protection. She gained her doctorate at the Faculty of Social Work in social work in the community. She gained additional training abroad for work with deaf-blind persons. In 2004 she wrote and implemented the first social protection programme for deaf-blind persons in Slovenia, which was approved and co-financed by the Ministry of Labour, Family and Social Affairs (MDDSZ). Her papers on the theoretical field have contributed to a better understanding of deaf-blind people in professional circles and the general public. In 2011 she received an award for achievements in individual areas of work in the previous two years, and in 2015 a prize for outstanding high-quality and professional work in the previous five years. Both awards were presented by the MDDSZ.

She has published several professional papers and two scientific monographs on the deaf-blind: Deaf-blind persons and ways of being understood and People with deaf-blindness in Slovenia. Together with her group she developed a communication device for the deaf-blind, which works on the principle of the Dalgarno glove (i.e. one of the methods of communication with deaf-blind persons where letters are laid out on the fingers and palm), which was first converted into Slovenian.