Work for the Deaf

AT THE recent Fall Council this important recommendation was passed relating to the deaf:

Whereas, There are an estimated 500,000 deaf persons in North America using a distinctive sign language, for whom very little has been done by us as a denomination in bringing to them God's final message to the world; and

Whereas, It is difficult for these people, who are deprived of hearing and usually of speech as well, to read themselves into the truth and to develop strong spiritual lives without church fellowship and guidance; and

Whereas, It is essential that workers, skilled in the use of sign language, teach the gospel to the deaf, thus aiding them in their understanding of the printed word:

We recommend, 1. That efforts be made to de­velop workers, both ministers and laymen, to carry on the work of sign-language preaching among the deaf wherever opportunities present themselves. 2. That the responsibility of fostering this work among the deaf be assigned to the North American Missions Committee, which is at present fostering the work among foreign-language and Indian peo­ples of North America.

This will be heartening to those of our work­ers who have carried a heavy burden for these underprivileged people. Blind people express sympathy for the deaf, feeling that while they themselves are afflicted, yet to be bereft of sight is not so great a calamity as to be unable to hear.

An article appeared recently in the magazine Awake! under date of August 22, 1960, which expresses this question in a way that chal­lenges us to rethink this whole problem. We must seek to win the confidence of these dear people and thus prepare them for the coming of our Lord and Saviour. The following is the article:

The Silent Language of the Deaf *

"None of us are strangers to sign language. It would be difficult to function without it. How would we properly greet our relatives and friends without a warm handshake, an embrace or a spontaneous kiss? What would replace the graceful gestures of a conductor leading his orchestra through a delightful concert? How would traffic officers signal drivers to 'stop' or 'go'? Imagine a baseball game without the um­pire's sign language! How would he tell the fans whether the runner was 'safe' or 'out'? Our modern theater, advertising, cartooning, broad­casting, and many other phases of life lean heavily on communication by signs.

"But sign language is hardly new. The North American Indians were highly proficient at it. Roman emperors were looked to by bloodied gladiators for the life-or-death 'thumbs up' or 'thumbs down,' sparing or dispatching their downed opponent accordingly. Ancient alpha­bets such as the Chinese contain symbols for the face, eyes, hands, body and feet caught in the act of talking with gestures. The Roman numer­als I, II and III really represent digits, digitus meaning 'finger.' The number V (5) is a rep­resentation of the open palm; X (10) is two palms back to back. Voyagers have long em­ployed sign language to talk with inhabitants of strange lands. Tourists still do. The semaphore signaling by flags is valued in modern navies. Soldiers the world over exchange the military salute. And into modern English we have fro­zen such natural gestures as 'keep a stiff upper lip,' 'highbrow,' 'turn one's nose up,' and many others. Indeed, sign language has long been the spice of tasteful conversation.

"How logical that it should be adopted as the silent language of the deaf. Here in principle was a time-proved means of communication. Even the awesome sound barrier would begin to yield. No longer would the deaf man's joy and sorrow, questions or denials, doubts and fears be imprisoned by a muted tongue. Let his hands, his face, his eyes, his shoulders, his very soul speak! Little wonder that communication by gestures became the 'mother tongue' of the deaf.

* Used by permission of the Watchtower Bible and Tract Society of New York, Incorporated.

To Be Born Deaf

"Very likely most of us never thought what it would be like not to hear, and consequently not to speak, or sing, or go to a band concert, or hear a lot of lovely, priceless sounds we take so much, for granted. Helen Keller, lacking both sight and hearing, said unhesitatingly that, if enabled to choose between the two, she would rather be without sight. That is the feeling of others as well, so precious is the gift of hearing and speech. One born deaf, of course, cannot recall hearing anything and in that sense can­not fully appraise the dreadful loss. Can we?

"When you and I were youngsters we heard many words from those around us. It was easy to imitate them. We acquired grammar and sentence structure before our schoolteachers explained exactly what such things mean. The rhyme of spoken words and the colorful idioms of our native tongue grew on us effortlessly. Not so with the bright-eyed tot born deaf. Those shining eyes, supported by his senses of touch, taste and smell, will become the major avenue of communication from the outside world into his thirsting mind and heart. On his precious eyes will fall the burden of taking in life-giving knowledge of God, neighbor, moral precepts and skills for earning a comfortable livelihood.

"Before school age the deaf child knows far fewer words or forms of expression than hearing-children, unless he learned sign language from deaf parents. Reaching school age, he is filled with natural curiosity that is insatiable. He must have an alphabet to help him ask the questions and learn the answers that so mightily affect his life. By information relayed to him either in sign language or in writing he can be kept in­formed of the vital happenings around him. With his silent language he can commune with some of his family, friends, and acquaintances, and who can fail to see the vital need for that? Later he may learn with varying degrees of suc­cess how to speech-read (lip-read). Generally he will receive and communicate his thoughts, needs, hopes, and joys by a combination of sign language, finger spelling, speech reading, and writing. He may learn to drive a car with skill and safety. At a dance he can keep step with the music by detecting the vibrations com­ing through the floor. In his home community he will have the opportunity to become re­spected as an unobtrusive citizen who works hard and pays his taxes. Sign language has brought him a long way. He is so happy to have it.

Like a Beautiful Painting

"The colorful sign language is like a beauti­ful painting that greets you vividly and all at once. It is largely pictorial or ideographic. Syn­tax, grammatical distinctions, and sentence or­der are not what matter. The order of expres­sion in a language such as English is inverted in sign language—the subject comes before the quality, the object before the action and, gen­erally, the thing modified before its modifier. Unnecessary words and phrases are dropped. Synonyms are scarce. Parts of speech may be said to exist in a sense. But called into play is a marvelous symphony of pantomime, mimic ac­tions, talking face, hands, arms, and shoulders— even the relaxed or rigid muscles convey depths of emotion. Signs often stand for complete phrases. Some distinctive trait or mark of a per­son or object becomes its logical symbol. Ac­tions are pictured by their most vivid char­acteristics. Attributes such as hardness, size and weight may be pointed out in the air. Some­times gestures will imitate a peculiarity en­countered in handling an object possessing the attribute under discussion.

"With such artful vocabulary the deaf 'speaker' weaves his warm, colorful signs into an engrossing theme. On occasion he will take the part of one character in his drama, then another, signaling the repeated change-overs by gestures tersely descriptive of each. The loca­tion of the related incident is made plain and the participants are clearly identified. Names, places or highly abstract ideas can be spelled out with the manual alphabet if necessary. Some intangible things will be expressed by ar­bitrary signs. The initial letter of a word may indicate the function or property of something. To the trained eye a mental moving picture unfolds. Sense stress, modulation, and related qualities are dramatized by the forceful expres­sions of the speaker's face and nimble hands. One must be careful not to concentrate too much on facial gestures, however, so as not to miss the point being made by the rest of the speaking body.

"On common subjects among those familiar with it the silent language of the deaf actually surpasses literal speech in the speed and force with which it conveys thoughts. It has the tre­mendous advantage of presenting a group of re­lated ideas almost at once, like a beautiful work of art. And, like great art, to the deaf it is priceless.

Finger Spelling

"If you were to study this fascinating art— and some hearing people do—you would prob­ably want to learn the manual alphabet first. The manual alphabet is a close supplement to the sign language and for all practical purposes is part of it. They say finger spelling (dactylol­ogy) harks back to the Egyptians, Hebrews, Greeks and Romans. During the Middle Ages monks employed some such device to maintain their self-imposed silence. Pictures of finger spelling can be seen in Latin Bibles of the tenth century. In the thirteenth century a collection of manual alphabets was in existence in Germany. The Italian people played a prominent part in developing finger spelling. The Spaniards ap­parently borrowed the single-hand alphabet from Italy to further education among the Spanish deaf.

"Very likely it was from Spain that France acquired the single-hand alphabet. The eight­eenth century French Abb6 Charles Michel de l']£pde introduced a system of signs into his school for the deaf and incorporated the single-hand alphabet as well. He was also familiar with the two-hand alphabet, which was to gain a stronghold in England. (The two-hand alpha­bet, probably based on that of George Dalgarno of Aberdeen, was published in 1680.) The French use of sign language to instruct the deaf was a departure from the prevailing custom elsewhere in Europe whereby the deaf were to lip-read and so learn to speak. This is known as the 'oral' method. From De l'Epee's time the present form of manual alphabet began to come into its own. The sign language itself con­tinued to develop and later migrated from France to America, where it was further en­larged, codified, and systematized. Thereafter it spread to other parts of the world.

The Great Controversy

"Those educators favoring the 'oral' method have been outspoken in passing judgment on the sign language. They object that it is a 'for­eign' tongue that segregates the deaf and en­courages clannishness. They claim it highlights a particular bodily infirmity and hinders the acquisition of speech by the deaf. The 'oralists' bear much of the blame for bringing the ex­pressions 'dumb' and 'mute' into an unfavorable light.

"Most of the deaf consider this opinionated view arbitrary and really a denial of their own right to self-determination. Typical of their spirited protest against this encroachment is the pamphlet recently circulated by the Ontario Association of the Deaf with the endorsement of the Canadian Association of the Deaf:

" 'In their zeal for fame, position and money, some of the zealots in the hard of hearing field have proclaimed their abilities to perform mir­acles. . . . With an argument that packs a ter­rific emotional appeal to parents, they say that deaf Johnny or Susie can be adjusted into hear­ing society. Lip reading is easy to learn and Johnny and Susie will never have to resort to those terrible things, sign language and finger spelling.

" 'The trouble with these surmises is that they are untrue. Lip reading, far from being easy is an art that is extremely difficult to acquire. It is inexact and utterly useless in lectures or ser­mons. One of the deepest tragedies of the whole situation is that dear children are being brought up as agnostics because of the failure of the fanatical oralists to provide a substitute for a sermon or religious service in sign lan­guage. They have not provided a substitute be­cause none exists.

" 'No group of self-appointed experts on the deaf will ever persuade us . . . that the acquisi­tion of faulty speech is the No. 1 objective of education for the deaf, that deaf teachers con­taminate the young or that signs are primitive and immoral when used to help us in eloquent communication with our fellows.'

"That eloquently expresses the heartfelt love the deaf have for their beloved 'mother tongue.' They are determined to preserve it, educators and legislators notwithstanding. They desire to keep it free from slang and any grotesque ges­tures that would simulate the 'loud-mouths' of the hearing world. It is true that most nondeaf have not learned the silent language of the deaf, but how many seeing people have concerned themselves with learning the Braille alphabet of the blind? Why should anyone want to force the deaf to give up what is so obvious a source of joy and encouragement to them?

The Deaf and You

"You will very likely meet a deaf man or woman in your travels or in your home town. The deaf are glad when you show interest in them and their language. Make the first ap­proach and engage them in written conversa­tion. They feel a strong need to be part of the world around them and that includes you. If you happen to ask directions of a deaf stranger, be gracious enough to put your inquiry in writ­ing on the pad he will invariably produce. Let him jot down his reply.

"It may be that a deaf-mute will ring your doorbell one of these days, not seeking alms (which is not a custom of the deaf), but pos­sibly as a minister of Jehovah's witnesses, seek­ing to tell you something that has made him very happy. Let him jot down a few words of introduction on his note pad. He will show you in God's Word the Bible how Jehovah, creator

of man's ear and tongue, will soon bring a com­plete answer to the Lord's model prayer. Even your sparse knowledge of signs will aid you to interpret the joy in his eyes as a reflection of sure hope that soon Christ Jesus will repeat earth-wide the miracle recorded at Mark 7: 32-37:

" 'Here they brought him a man deaf and with a speech impediment, and they entreated him to lay his hand upon him. And he took him away from the crowd privately and put his fin­gers into the man's ears and, after spitting, he touched his tongue. And with a look up into heaven he sighed deeply and said to him: "Eph-pha-tha," that is, "Be opened." Well, his hear­ing powers were opened, and the impediment of his tongue was loosed, and he began speaking normally.' "

Other churches are making a definite con­tribution in this field. Note this press report. The caption itself is arresting: "Teen-Ager's Hands Tell Bible Word," the Columbian, Van­couver, Washington.

"A pretty teen-age girl is playing a vital role in bringing religion to deaf people by way of television. She is Georgia Dunlap, 16, who in­terprets the spoken word via sign language to accompany a 'Preview of Televangelism 1960' at the Southwest Baptist Church in St. Louis.

"For the past two Sundays she has stood be­side a television set, watching another set about six feet away and relaying the words to several score deaf people while they watch. She will be doing it again this Sunday.

The Speaking Hands

I watched those swiftly moving hands

And could not help but stop and look.

To me it was a wonderous theme

Seen, not heard from God's Holy Book.

Those hands were speaking of the Christ,

Our Lord, who died upon the tree,

A message from the Book that tells

Of love He gives to you and me.

And as I watched, my heart was thrilled

As if I stood on a sacred spot;

For there that girl was preaching Christ

To those whose ears were closed and stopped.

How wonderful to see those hands

Speak out a message, strong and clear,

That Christ the King shall come again

And call the deaf, who then shall hear.

—William W. Greb. Adapted.

R. A. A.