United States (MNN) — Many families in the United States will have both Deaf and hearing people in the same room at Christmas. If that’s you or another family you know, keep reading and share!
“Worldwide, there’s about 70 million Deaf people. That’s about one out of every 200 people,” says Rob Myers with DOOR International. He says 90% of Deaf children are born to hearing parents. “Many Deaf people, when they get around the holidays, expect to spend a lot of time around hearing people.”
It’s not always easy. Communication and cultural barriers can leave a Deaf person isolated and unengaged in what’s supposed to be a welcoming family environment.
If that’s an experience you don’t want to repeat, here are six tips to love and engage with Deaf family and friends this holiday. The first one is simple.
If you haven’t already, start learning sign language.
“Learning language is the beginning of really building a relationship with someone,” Myers says. He recommends an app called Lingvano to give you a jumpstart on American Sign Language.
Make the best use of technology.
Ask questions ahead of time so you can plan for what tech might serve you best.
“It’s good to ask the Deaf person if reading is a preferred way that that they can take in information,” Myers says.
English is, after all, a second language to a Deaf person! If they are comfortable with reading, make sure that when the TV goes on, so do the captions. Then, during group conversations, consider setting up a device with a speech-to-text app and placing it in the middle of the room where it can easily be seen.
Consider the room.
Watch out for Christmas candlelight ambiance!
“Deaf people are really visual, and so it’s actually important for a room to be well lit,” Myers explains. “[A dim room] makes it really challenging for a Deaf person to even communicate, because it’s difficult to see sometimes.”
When it’s time for a family game, choose visual games like charades.
Games based on sounds or words may be impossible for a Deaf person to really enjoy. Create that environment where everyone can engage in the fun.
Consider hiring an interpreter.
“If it’s a big family gathering and you have one, maybe several Deaf people there, you may want to think about hiring a sign language interpreter,” Myers says.
“That interpreter will be a bridge and help facilitate communication — and that interpreter is not just for the Deaf people. [He or she is] for the hearing people too, because Deaf people have a lot of wisdom and a lot of great stories and things that they would love to communicate.”
If any Scripture is going to be shared, find sign language Bible translation too.
“One of the things that is really valuable to us at DOOR is to see Scripture available for Deaf people,” Myers explains. “Download and have ready some sign language Scripture, so someone who uses [in this case] ASL can engage in that Scripture in the same way that people are listening to it in English.”
Portions of Scripture are available at doorinternational.org. Myers says another place you can go for Scriptures is deafmissions.com.
Ask God which of these tips could help you love and serve your family best, as you seek to represent Him this Christmas.
“[These] are just some ways that you can really help engage Deaf people as part of family activities in general,” Myers says, “but really specifically ensuring that any opportunity that the family takes to talk about faith, their relationship with God, what it means to follow Jesus, that Deaf people have the same access to that.”
Connect with DOOR for more tips and resources!
Header photo is a representative stock photo courtesy of Annie Spratt via Unsplash.
