Religion and the Deaf Community
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- čas přidán 18. 04. 2019
- I talk about something that's been popping up a lot lately in the deaf community that is slightly irritating and absolutely not okay. (To clarify, I'm speaking specifically to the US, I don't know what it's like in other places.)
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Oh wow that's extremely creepy. I'm Christian and outreach is part of my beliefs, but most definitely not by disrespecting privacy and boundaries. That's honestly disgusting.
im an ex mormon, and this totally sounds like something they’d do. I was asked to interpret for some missionaries a while back (weird since i had like two classes worth of asl knowledge and no experience) and i ended up not going because of anxiety. Now I’m glad I didn’t
Yeah, as I’ve been going to Auslan classes a couple of the other students I know are part of religious groups - they are specifically learning because their aim is to make their church more accessible to Deaf people. Which is fine and brilliant if the people who go to the church make their own informed choice and want to go but I do worry about them potentially targeting the Deaf community for conversion.
That’s wrong !! I often don’t answer my door as telling “them” No, doesn’t work. Maybe letting them know you will file harassment charges ? Stalking? Anyone, hearing or deaf telling someone “NO !! “ means NO !! That’s all ..
Last month when I went to the Deaf social in my town, there were two hearing religious folks. A couple of them seem to show up every time I go, which has been for the last six months or so. Anyway, last time I went I asked them about their church. They said it didn't have a name, they just try to re-create the church as in Jesus's day. I have a major in religion so this is all kinds of interesting BUT, what most irked me is that I saw them talking about how they had a project going to interpret the Bible in ASL. Apparently, this project got held up because one of the signers for the interpretation was gay. So now they must rerecord those portions. This left me quite devastated. I talked with a friend of mine who is hearing but teaches ASL at the college level. She said being part of the LGBTQ community is not quite as taboo with the Deaf, but, regardless, I didn't have the heart to show up at the Deaf social this month. I can't imagine what it is like for Deaf people who want these safe spaces and then get invaded by people with an agenda, let alone hearing people who seem to be taking advantage of a minority population.
understand...
Never heard about that before. Thanks for spreading this information, Rogan. This is awful and creepy. And next time they showing up at my doorstep, I will ask them about this, before I send them away.
Agreed!!! Also, your thoughts are very organized and comes out elequently. I'd have to take a day or two to write down my notes first!
Very well-argued, and I think it's an important point of view that everyone needs to hear.
Yes, that’s a pet peeve! I had experienced something like that a few times while growing up. Now, I don’t have to worry about it anymore. Because I always use PO Box as my address for everything at deaf events. When they usually asked me for permanent address, I told them that my permanent address is PO Box. They kept said no, that’s not permanent address. Then I told them too bad, they have no right to criticize me that I am giving them the wrong address. It’s either take my PO Box or get lost! 😁
as a part of the lds church, i find this extremely creepy and i’m so sorry this is happening. i’ll definitely ask my bishop/some of the missionaries about it cause that’s horrible
I am a Christian and hearing and I am very glad you shared this information, it has certainly been an eye opener for me. I had no idea of this happening and I totally agree with you that it is an invasion of your privacy when they use a specific list of deaf individuals to solicit for their religious evangelism pursuits without their permission. Also just the mire idea of them coming back to your house after you have expressed that you are not interested and do not want them to come again is an outrage as well as ignoring your preferential rights. I am so sorry this is happening and I am going to share this with others in hopes they will get this information out to as many denominations as possible to stop this from happening in the future.
Very informative video. 😊
I worked at a place and once the JWs figured out a Deaf client was there they would not leave him alone. He would have staff tell them he wasn't there to get them to go away. Also, a JW was in an ASL class and the first day of class when they asked us why we were interested in ASL, he said "to spread the knowledge of Jesus Christ". They are very persistent and what you said in the video is definitely a violation of boundaries and privacy. They need to chill out.
Yes, I have had an experience with JW as a deaf child. The first time the JW came to my house and my parents told them we were not interested. My parents were Buddhists. So, the second time they actually brought the deaf teenager that I went to same school. My parents were quite hesitant to say anything until the teenager spoke in ASL. So, my parents were like, “Ok, let’s give them a chance to see if our daughter is happy after her first lesson with JW.” After the few lessons, it got closer to the holidays and I sadly told my parents I won’t celebrate any holidays anymore because of JW. My parents were upset and decided to stop letting JW teach me anymore. Personally, I was so happy to see that the JW stopped coming to my house. Every day I asked myself the question- how did they know? I suspected that the JW must have somehow obtained the “yellow page” from my school. Every year my school actually distributed the “yellow page” of all the addresses/phone numbers of students. I think we signed up for that in the first place. So, that’s how they found us. Ugh.
To answer your question(s) Rogan; as a former JW, from 2015-2016, I was involved in the ASL congregation. I've notice what JW don't want you to know is that they have a list of certain people on their territory sheet and ask the "hearing" householder, do you know any deaf people or know any who uses sign language. Most of they say no all time. I also remember when I was at the kingdom hall, they use social media to search for the deaf from those going to FSBD (which they are banned from) to stalk them (I can recall going out every Sunday to go out to "preach" which our meetings were every Tuesday and Saturday, sometimes we would go to Target just sit and wait for deaf people to show up or blend in the crowd to pretend we were shopping) and other ways which is wrong. Also the Witnesses very rarely mind you have a lot of deaf people in their organization. Basically the organization is made up of a lot of hearing people who make up signs, never went to school to learn the language, we had a class that never taught ASL (only for learning how to use it more in the door to door ministry), never got involved with the deaf community (I wasn't allowed to go to Deaf events unless I'm going to start a Bible study but I wanted to be apart of the community) and culture, none of them are certified Interpters, the controversial video of telling Deaf people to stop masturbating (which is on Vimeo only) and the list goes on basically their main mission is only to recruit members. If you have any more questions Ronan please let me know because as a born again Christian after leaving the JWs for almost 2 years I can spill the tea. Please check here on CZcams, TTATT ASL she will explain more and thank you, keep up the excellent work with your channel.
Oh!! Yep! It happened to me! I was buzzed at first cuz those people know ASL and stopped by my place. I thought it was odd that they knew where I live. Chatted for few minutes and they made weird excuses like I need to use your bathroom. Totally strangers! For sure, it was awkward... lol!
Hey all Rogan's Dad here - we actually have had JWs come to our house several times with 'signers' asking about the deaf person living there - you were only 6 or 7 so how they knew....? We were polite the first time and signed with them a bit, and other JW groups have come and we just politely send them away.
Yes this happened to me. They came for several years to my house. When I moved a short distance away, they found me again!😕
Have you seen the sign languages pages for the Joshua Project. It’s crazy what people are doing...