Faith Comes by Seeing
I visited Silent Friends Chapel in Dallas on Sunday. It is a congregation of the Deaf and their families. The service was all in sign, but there was an English interpreter for those who are hearing and don’t understand American Sign Language, like me.
The Deaf have unique languages and cultures. I learned about Deaf culture and sign language in November of 2000 when I spent a week with a Deaf community in Mexico City. What did I learn? Sign language is not universal–there are more than 100 known sign languages in the world. More sign languages are still being discovered and documented. Each has its own unique vocabulary and grammar. A sign language is not necessarily related to the spoken language of an area. For example, American Sign Language and British Sign Language are not mutually intelligible or related even though English is spoken in both the USA and the UK, and neither BSL or ASL is a related language of English.
The friend that brought me to Silent Friends is preparing with her husband to work with DOOR International. DOOR is working in partnership with Wycliffe to translate portions of the Bible for Deaf communities that desire it. Learn more.
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Thanks for posting about this visit! My husband grew up with deaf grandparents and so I've learned a lot about deaf culture since marrying him. Did you know they have their own humor? Deaf people LOVE slapstick. The "slip-on-a-banana-and-fall-down" variety. Because it's so visual! They are also very literal people and another friend who interprets said she cannot say "washed in the blood" because in their minds it means 'murder'. She has to say what that symbolism means – "redeemed by the death of Jesus" because the visual picture of covered in blood is too distracting from the true message. Just another example of how you have to get into people's understanding and cannot assume that they understand the way WE understand. Just take all of the miscommunications between a Husband and wife for example!