{"id":10269,"date":"2010-04-27T20:23:31","date_gmt":"2010-04-28T01:23:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=10269"},"modified":"2010-05-04T04:32:31","modified_gmt":"2010-05-04T09:32:31","slug":"is-god%e2%80%99s-love-important-enough-for-the-deaf-to-know-too","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2010\/04\/27\/is-god%e2%80%99s-love-important-enough-for-the-deaf-to-know-too\/","title":{"rendered":"Is God\u2019s Love Important Enough for the Deaf to Know, Too?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Is God\u2019s Love Important Enough for the Deaf to Know, Too?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Let me start off by saying that having been an atheist, I realize that not
\nall of you will agree with everything I am writing about, but understand
\nthat it comes out of a deep love for equality in the Deaf community.
\nYesterday, I had a conversation for the second time with a Director from the
\npurported Christian organization Family Life.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, I pleaded with this organization to understand the value of
\nproviding professional sign language interpreters for their Weekend to
\nRemember events. When I called yesterday to plead this case again, Carl
\nBoykin who is the Director of Events responded that Family Life\u2019s position
\non this issue has not changed. He tried to convince me that they understood
\nthe Deaf community\u2019s position on this but I quickly informed him that their
\norganization clearly did not understand or it would otherwise advocate to
\nensure that these events had professional interpreters.<\/p>\n

I described how the Deaf community has been discriminated against by various
\nChristian and other religious entities for hundreds of years; I explained
\nthat many Deaf community members loathe the idea of attending church after
\nbeing forced to go with their families without an interpreter to clarify the
\nproceedings. I also explained how I realize that technically non-profit
\nreligious organizations are not all held to the standard of the Americans
\nwith Disabilities Act, but does that mean as Christians we should not rise
\nabove this?<\/p>\n

As Christians, does it take a governmental edict requiring us to love people
\nto follow through? Has not God already commanded this of us in our own Holy
\nBible? I realize that there may be other ways legally of having
\ninterpreters provided (perhaps from the locations these events are being
\nprovided at), but why should it come to that? I explained to Mr. Boykin
\nthat by not providing professional interpreters, he was saying one of two
\nthings to the Deaf community:<\/p>\n

1.The Deaf community is not important enough to hear Family Life\u2019s message\u00a0or<\/p>\n

2.Family Life\u2019s message is not important enough for the Deaf community to\u00a0hear.<\/p>\n

Period. Whether that is the intent behind their actions matters not since
\nthis is how the actions are perceived by the community.<\/p>\n

He made certain to tell me that even though they do not provide
\ninterpreters, they do \u201cother things.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I asked what these \u201cother things\u201d were, he replied that they let
\ninterpreters volunteer their time sometimes at the conferences. I asked if
\nhis speakers, stage crew, light and sound crew, and other staff members
\nvolunteered their time as well, to which he replied no. Let me first say,
\nthat anyone who really knows me knows that I volunteer my interpreting
\nservices probably more often than I should, so I am not opposed to
\nvolunteering.<\/p>\n

It should not be expected, though. Interpreters provide a valuable service
\nand it is a lot to ask of someone to give up two to three full work days as
\na volunteer. Not only this, but there is no quality control standard over
\nmost volunteers. Oftentimes this means an uncertified and\/or unqualified
\nsigner is pulled in to interpret without any knowledge of our Code of
\nProfessional Conduct.<\/p>\n

These paying Deaf patrons want to know when they attend a conference over a
\nsensitive matter such as marriage that they can trust their private matters
\nto not be leaked back to the very small Deaf community. At least with a
\nprofessional interpreter, they have a better chance of receiving this
\nstandard of service. Although volunteer interpreters can also be
\nprofessional interpreters, oftentimes volunteer equates to unqualified.<\/p>\n

Carl also informed me\u2026 wait for it, this is the kicker\u2026 that Family Life is
\ngracious enough to waive the registration fees for the interpreters.
\nUmmm\u2026 huh? I told him that would be the equivalent of the college I teach
\nat waiving tuition fees for me to teach. Do they charge their other staff
\nmembers registration fees? Of course they do not because the staff members
\nare working. They should be paid, not pay to work. At a $129 per person or
\n$258 per couple (not including hotel stay) registration fee, there is no
\nreason that this organization could not afford to pay for interpreters.<\/p>\n

I reminded Carl that if they really had faith in God as an organization,
\nthey should trust that He will provide for their interpreting funds just as
\nHe has provided for many of their other initiatives.<\/p>\n

I asked Mr. Boykin this, \u201cIf you were on trial in a court in China, do you
\nthink it would be sufficient if you were provided a volunteer English
\ninterpreter?\u201d The answer is of course not, especially with imprisonment or
\nworse at stake. How much more imperative is it for someone to have clear
\ncommunication when it come to saving a marriage and to the eternal life and
\ndeath message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ? Can you tell me, according to
\nthe Christian faith, any message of import above that of salvation? I think
\nnot.<\/p>\n

Sadly, after all of this, I realized that my time and breath had been wasted
\nbecause Mr. Boykin\u2019s response was just to say that it was an \u201cunfortunate
\nsituation.\u201d I let him know that it was unfortunate because Family Life
\nwould no longer have my support, the support of my family, the support of my
\nextended family, nor that of many of my friends.<\/p>\n

How can I support an organization which so blatantly is discriminating
\nagainst an entire people group? It pains me to speak ill words of a
\nChristian organization because, having been an atheist until the age of
\nnineteen, I know that these types of incidents are exactly what turn people
\nfurther away from the Christian faith and misrepresent the whole. Despite
\nthat, I think it is important to bring all things to the light to allow
\npeople to see and make judgments for themselves.<\/p>\n

Thanks for listening and perhaps one day this Christian organization and
\nothers like it will learn what it means to love.<\/p>\n

Leyel Hudson
\nInterpreter and Professor of Interpreting<\/p>\n

CONTACT PERSON NAME: Leyel Hudson
\nCONTACT EMAIL ADDRESS: leyelhudson@gmail.com
\nCONTACT TELEPHONE #: 832-326-3367 (Voice\/Text)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Is God\u2019s Love Important Enough for the Deaf to Know, Too? Let me start off by saying that having been an atheist, I realize that not all of you will agree with everything I am writing about, but understand that…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[114,3472,4621,4469,4472,533,94,35,24,1205,4473,4470,4474,40,4417,258,4471,186],"class_list":["post-10269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-ada","tag-americans-with-disabilities-act","tag-article","tag-atheist","tag-carl-boykin","tag-christian","tag-church","tag-community","tag-deaf","tag-discrimination","tag-faith","tag-family-life","tag-gospel-of-jesus-christ","tag-interpreter","tag-leyel-hudson","tag-organization","tag-value","tag-volunteer"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-2FD","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4444,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2008\/10\/09\/signed-bible-studies-for-deaf-children-video\/","url_meta":{"origin":10269,"position":0},"title":"Signed Bible Studies for Deaf children Video","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"October 9, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Signed Bible Studies for Deaf children WEBSITE: http:\/\/www.deafhearthevoiceoflove.org Bible studies for Deaf children in Sign Language;\"Who is God?\" and \"God's First People\" on the website of Deaf Hear the Voice of Love, a nonprofit Christian organization to minister God's love to Deaf children. 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