The DEAF and The BLIND JW'S.

by Blueblades 6 Replies latest jw friends

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  Blueblades

  In our congregation we had one Blind brother who has sinced died.We also share the hall with a Deaf congregation.In the 2004 Yearbook pages 9--11, it mentions that there are 1,200 congrgations and groups of Deaf publishers and interested ones around the world.I have not yet read anything about the Blind in the 2004 Yearbook.

  My question to you is:How are the Deaf and the Blind being aided to understand what we, who are not hearing impaired or Blind ,know about the scandals and harmful doctrines that they may not be aware of ,because of the physical limitations they have to bear.Does anyone have any experiences that they can share with us about this concern.

  Blueblades
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  blondie

  To be fair, the WTS has provided literature free to the blind for years. The WTS do all their own Braille production and have received awards for their efforts.. The tapes of the books and magazines and Bibles were initially intended for the blind (Braille label provided.) Otherwise, people who had no time for door to door, were happy to record the pubs for the blind in the congregation.

  The ones that really were left out in the cold were the deaf. Deaf people in general are more isolated from the general population because of the communication problem. Whereas one can easily converse with a blind person, you run up against an instant barrier with deaf people unless they can read lips (which only a few can) or you know sign language. Reading is difficult for the deaf because they learn language differently.

  Many features make computers very accessible to the blind and of course to the deaf. I have not found them to be any less intelligent that the average JW or non-JW. Their backgrounds, life experiences, and how their personalities formed have a bigger impact. I have seen JWs try to take advantage of the blind or deaf, and been turned away as soon as the individual realized what the deal was. I have an e-mail buddy who is blind who knew all about the UN issue before I did.

  The blind are organized into support and lobby groups as are the deaf. In fact, my sign language training was through a non-JW deaf group which is where I get my viewpoint from.

  Blondie

  
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  Lady Lee

  Wow Blondie - one more thing we have in common. I didn't know you sign too. Mine is rather rusty but I can still communicate.

  The old JW that I knew tended to be more afraid of those who left. They were the first to shun me. But they all have captioned TV so could have seen the TV shows. They all read the newspapers and I know that one son is on the net. I'm a tad too far to know what the situation is now.
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  Blueblades

  Thanks Blondie.Happy New Year to you and yours!.Do you know of anyone else who is hearing impaired or blind that have been helped to get out of the Lie.Good for your e- mail buddy,does he know of others who are blind,or has helped others to learn about this UN.scandal and other harmful doctrinesof the society.

  Also,while it may be true that the society has helped the blind with literature in braille,the information provided is still harmful to them.I have come to know that you are very fair and impartial when it comes to giving credit where it is due,and that you back up all that you post with evidence.Thanks again.

  Blueblades
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  blondie

  LL, I'm rusty too. I had a recent experience at work with someone who was deaf and the interpreters were out for the holidays. While they tried to find a better interpreter than me, I was able to talk and help this person with technical info. My training is in general vocabulaary. But I have had to communicate with other foreign languages. I worked out. They knew some of the people I knew and it made me more determined to go back to my training.

  As to my blind buddy, she is not a JW. We met through work but she lives a state over now. She has been blind from brith. I have seen the setup she has. She has a device that reads printed material to her, wow!

  As to helping anyone out. I met the deaf couple that sparked the formation of a deaf group in my area before and after they stopped going. There was so much jealousy as to who would be in charge. They had been part of the non-JW deaf group I was associated with. It is hard to understand how isolated the deaf are and how much they need each other. Being told to stop having association with these people and not having many at the KH step up to be their friend, was devastating. Where there are larger groups/congregations, this is not so pronounced. So they left. I left and we see each other from time to time. The fact that I was associating with this non-JW deaf group, made them reevaluate their leaving them. Small part, the rest the JWs did, being unloving.

  Blueblades, I understand the WTS pubs are not good, but at least the blind were not ignored like the deaf were for many years. The WTS now has ASL videos. I have visited the area in Bethel where the deaf/blind publications are produced. I have found that in the congregations in general the blind and deaf can fall through the cracks. They are too time-intensive just like the sick, depressed, and elderly.

  I do invite anyone out there to ask themselves, could you communicate with a deaf person even in some small way, a greeting, knowing the alphabet and spelling your name? I am currently battling a chronic ear problem which takes away more of my hearing each year. I'm old but not that old. That is what started me to reach out to the deaf community. I am hearing-impaired myself.

  Some days after proof-reading my posts I think I am going blind.
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  Lady Lee

  The fellow that helped me after I left the JW was blind from birth. He had a versabraille that allowed him to read the computer and also a voice recognition program. Another friend who lost most of his vision had a device to read papers books - much like a scanner that fed the info into his computer.

  I took found the isolation of the deaf world was enough to make most in the deaf group conform. Being so isolated the thought of being cut off from the few people they knew was terrifying for them. And sadly most in the cong avoided them because of the communication problems. I have to say though that the cong I was in made an effort to get as many people as possible to learn sign. I was continually running sign language courses and would have to say about 30 people learned it well enough to get by and about 15 learned well enough to interpret
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  KKLUV155

  This is very interesting, I am currently going to school to learn Sign Language Interpreter. I have a cousin who is deaf and we are kind of close. She has taught me lots, but not enough to be an interpreter. I think sign language is a very beautiful language. It is nice to see little things people have in common on this board.