It's been a while since my last post, but honestly I have been busy! God has been doing a lot of things in me and through me. A few weeks ago I was blessed with the opportunity to catch up with a friend of mine. We haven't seen each other in a while because we have both been very busy. We decided to get some coffee at Starbucks and hang out. My friend's name is Levi. He's an awesome friend and an amazing brother-in-Christ. Levi is deaf. He has been deaf nearly all of his life. I took American Sign Language (ASL) last summer and I fell completely in love with deaf people and their culture. I can't help but to fingerspell everything I see and sign everything I say. ASL has been integrated in my life and I can't help, but use it. I find myself signing during worship and signing when I am talking to people. I can't help but sign.
We were catching up on how things were going. He got a job in Dallas and works regularly. Since he lives in Fort Worth, the drive takes a long time and doesn't leave him much time for anything else. I have been busy with school and told him that all I have time for is work, my internship (learned that sign during the chat), and Church. It was interesting, but after catching up we started talking about Church and we shared our testimony of how Christ came into our lives. I am not going into details about what was discussed, but we had similar stories about "hearing" God. We shared similarities on views about Church and how head knowledge gets in the way of heart knowledge. He explained this by making a cross with his fingers and placing them on his head and then moving them to his heart.
We also talked about deaf Churches and how it's important for deaf people to fellowship with other deaf people. A lot of hearing Churches have an interpreter, but there is a lack of fellowship, because majority of hearing people don’t know ASL and can’t communicate with their deaf brothers-in-Christ. They will write on a piece of paper and use gestures, but the lack of language will always hinder communication and relationship. Fellowship is unity through culture and language.
I am going to give a little lesson on what I have learned about deaf culture. Please be patient with me as I explain. Also, have an open mind and really consider what is being communicated.
Deaf Culture is Unique:
Deaf culture is different from any other culture on earth. It’s unique and precious. Deaf culture is not fundamentally based on race, religion, or location. It’s based solely on the fact that the people of this culture cannot hear. That’s it. All people of all races, of all religions, of all origins belong to deaf culture.
Deaf and Hearing Culture:
Majority of deaf children have hearing parents. Majority of deaf parents have hearing children. Now, hearing parents with deaf children are more likely than not, to try and "fix" their children's hearing. This is a long, expensive, and hurtful process. Technology isn't what hearing parents are told it is. Instead they are let to believe that their children, because they are deaf, will never amount to anything and the only hope for them is cochlear implants. While all this is going on the child is left without a language. Language is essential to the development of a child. Culture ties strongly with language. The bonding that every young child needs with its parent is lacking if there is no shared language. Bonding is incredibly important for the healthy development of a child. Deaf children, in hearing families where ASL is not the primary language, suffer many hardships.
Now, hearing children with deaf parents grow up in a home where ASL is the primary language. The main difference between this scenario and the former is hearing children can learn ASL, deaf children cannot learn spoken language. Why? Because they are deaf. How can you learn a spoken language you have never heard? How can you enunciate sounds you have never heard and how can you make those sounds if you can’t hear yourself? Don’t get me wrong, there are some deaf people who are very good at speaking, but this is rare and it is the result of rigorous training, which takes years to learn. Hearing children with deaf parents, or Children of Deaf Adults (CODA’s) grow up learning ASL and a spoken language. Think about it. If you are hearing and you are immersed in a world that speaks, then how can you not learn the language?
For my hearing friends reading this (if you aren't deaf or hard of hearing this means you) ASL isn't just gestures and acting out things so that you get a point across. ASL is a thorough language that expresses ideas, concepts, both abstract and concrete. ASL has it's own language structure, much like French, English, Spanish or any other language. I am explaining this because I don't want my hearing friends to have the misconception that we are miming when we communicate using ASL. I want my hearing friends to understand that we are having a deep conversation using a language foreign to most hearing people.
So with all that said, there is a divide between deaf and hearing cultures. Technology is changing and making it easier to communicate, but I want to encourage my hearing friends to take an ASL course and learn to fingerspell. Since I have taken ASL classes I have made some awesome friends. Some friends I have made by meeting in public places. Every time I see hands move I get excited! It’s another opportunity to meet a new friend and chat!
I hope that this blog was interesting and not as boring as my last two blogs. I am new at this, so give me a break :-p
ILY!
(ILY=I LOVE YOU)
p.s. If any of my deaf friends feel they need to add to this blog, please feel free to do so. Also, if I had said anything that was not true or not fully explained, please let me know. I am learning and I want others to learn also.
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