Isolated: Deaf Christians
It happened to me again this weekend…
I had an opportunity to share the story of Silent Blessings and our passion for Deaf ministry in an urban congregation. There were three deaf people in the congregation who came up to speak with me following the message. None of these three people knew sign language. Instead they followed the philosophy of “listening & speaking” which relies primarily on electronic audio amplification, such as hearing aids and cochlear implants, with a lot of speech therapy. Each of these three people could speak quite clearly. They were obviously able to communicate their thoughts to the hearing people around them. And, so long as the background noise was not too loud, they were all pretty much able to understand what was being said directly to them.
But they all basically said the same thing: they were very lonely. They said they had no friends. They felt isolated from the church community they were trying to be a part of. They said that, because they knew no sign language, they were not really part of the signing Deaf community, and they were unable to really fit into the hearing community either, because, try as they might, they still could not easily follow conversations and feel comfortable around others. It was always a struggle to understand. They just never felt comfortable anywhere. This is a very common story with those who have been denied instruction in sign language along with their implants or hearing aids. It is a part of the story oralists never tell you. It is a tragedy which is just unnecessary.
But however it happens and whatever the underlying reasons, the fact is that there is a huge number of people in our congregations who no longer feel like a part of what is happening. Some are like these I mentioned above, but many more have greying hair and, though they had enjoyed normal hearing all their lives, they are now among the 10% of the US population who are struggling to hear!
In my own home congregation I would suspect nearly half of the congregants are able to understand no more than 60% of what is spoken or sung in a typical Sunday morning service.
It is time to wake up and start meeting the needs of the hard-of-hearing and deaf in our midst! It is time we stop worrying about the “esthetic” of theatre lighting and limiting the number of printed words in the pews or on our screens. It is time we start putting communication ahead of art and flow. Don’t misunderstand what I am saying. I am all for art and flow and esthetics. But when there are people in our pews who struggle to extract the message from our services simply because they do not now possess the ability to hear as well as others do, a comprehensive review of our methods is in order. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that there are thousands of people who will never find meaningful fellowship or spiritual rebirth in a darkened sanctuary with inadequate amplification systems.
A sign language interpreter or even a full ASL Deaf service will not reach these people. They need a different approach — an approach that is readily available. It just takes some different thinking! Some better planning. A little inconvenience for some — but a much richer spiritual and personal experience for others.