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News and Ideas from around the Anglican World |
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January 2006
Joan Drysdale & Agnes Comerford
TAP: Have you been deaf since birth? Joan: Yes, and both my parents were deaf. Agnes: My parents weren’t deaf but as an infant my eardrums were damaged.
TAP: I’m sorry. Agnes: There’s no need to be sorry. We’re happy to be Deaf with a capital “D”.
TAP: Are you profoundly deaf or hearing impaired? Joan: There are so many buzz words. I’m Deaf and proud of it.
TAP: How were you taught to communicate? Joan: For eleven years I attended the School for the Deaf in Halifax. My mother taught me to lip read and in the classroom we lip read. In the playground we used Maritime Sign Language (MSL). Later an American teacher taught us American Sign Language. I never use pure ASL or MSL but a little of both, just the way English uses different slangs and dialects. Agnes: My father was a teacher so he could prepare me for school but he couldn’t teach me to sign. I was born in Newfoundland but came alone to Halifax when I was ten so I could attend the School for the Deaf as a boarder. After five years I transferred to the Mackay School for the Deaf in Montreal. I never learned LSQ [Langue des signes Québécois] because the French and English students were kept separate. I loved it there and received a really good education. It was also oral instruction but there was more freedom to be kids. Halifax had good teachers but it was very strict. We had to walk always in pairs.
TAP: Can you explain how the syntax of sign language differs from English? Agnes. Sign language is really conceptual and much briefer. The word order is subject, object and then verb. In English you would say “I went to the store to buy some milk.” You would sign, “Me store go milk buy finish.” Joan: “How are you?” needs three words in English but only one sign. You might say, “Oh, it’s a dark and cloudy, grey day” but we would use one sign for “cloudy”.
TAP: How does Maritime Sign language differ from ASL? Agnes: In the 1800’s a Scotsman who immigrated to Nova Scotia introduced British Sign Language (BSL) and MSL evolved out of it. It is a blend of BSL and ASL. Quebec speaks LSQ and Ontario and the west speak ASL.
TAP: Can you lip read? Joan: Yes. Agnes: I’m not a skilled lip reader. It’s really tough when people have moustaches and facial hair or accents or don’t hold eye contact.
TAP: When you attended church as a child, could you understand anything? Agnes: I had no idea what was going on. There were no interpreters in those days. I was bored to tears. A teacher from the school for the deaf brought us to St. George’s but she didn’t sign. She only used lip reading and finger spelling in the classroom, not in church. I always wondered what they were talking about. Joan: Church was a good time to daydream. As a child I didn’t realize what I was missing. Neither of us went to Sunday school but we were both confirmed.
TAP: What would be the best model for providing a church for the deaf and the deaf–blind? Agnes: We must have interpreters for the deaf and deaf-blind. That is non-negotiable. Everything else would be futile without interpreters. The parish should pay for the interpreter as St. George’s does. Joan: If I am assigned an interpreter, I can go to whatever church I want to go to like a hearing person. That would be ideal. Agnes: We need interpreters so very, very badly. Then we can trust what we’re being told. You can’t have faith in something you don’t have access to.
TAP: Do you prefer worshipping in an integrated community of hearing and deaf? Agnes: Yes! Joan: Absolutely!
TAP: Does the interpreter attend coffee hour so that you can communicate with the hearing members of the congregation? Laura Bartlett, the interpreter: I started out going to coffee hour as an interpreter but decided that real connections happen if the hearing are creative and write on paper, gesture and learn some signs. Now I attend as a congregational member.
TAP: Does St. George’s have the largest deaf-blind Anglican congregation in Canada? Agnes: Possibly. We have up to 15 deaf and deaf-blind members. The front three pews are designated for us. And one deaf member is a server. As well as Sunday, about ten of us attend the Friday said Eucharist with an interpreter. It also has a question-and-answer sermon which allows us to participate. St. George’s has also offered Bible classes with two deaf leaders.
TAP: Agnes, as an intervener for the deaf-blind can you explain how tactile or manual interpretation works? Agnes: Usually the intervener watches the interpreter signing and then touches the Deaf-blind person’s palm and fingers with signs. The person I sign for is able to hold my hand just below my wrist while I copy the interpreter’s signs. He can detect from my muscle movement what is being signed.
TAP: Why do the Deaf prefer a more consistent text like the Book of Common Prayer? Agnes: When nothing changes, the signs can stay the same. There are enough changes with the psalms, sermons, lessons, hymns and daily collects.
TAP: Can you participate more in worship that involves body language such as genuflecting, kneeling, bowing and making the sign of the cross and that stimulates the sense of smell with incense? Joan: Yes. The services at St. George’s don’t depend solely on the spoken and written word.
TAP: Is it painful or encouraging to hear stories of Jesus healing the deaf and the blind? Joan: I don’t feel insulted. Agnes: It’s wonderful if that’s God’s plan.
TAP: In private prayer, do you use sign language or quiet meditation? Joan: I’m very quiet and sometimes read a little. I pray in my heart with no language. Agnes: Sometimes I sign. Joan: Really, Agnes, you sign? How very interesting. Agnes: Sometimes I’m quiet. God knows what’s in my heart. Joan: I pray in my heart and mind. There is no need to clarify.
TAP: What language do you think you’ll use in heaven? Joan: I don’t know. It’s not up to me. God’s got a plan. I’ll trust his plan. Agnes: I agree. God knows sign language. |
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In
the 1950’s, when Joan Drysdale & Agnes Comerford were young students
at the Halifax School for the Deaf, they attended St. George’s
“Round” Church but could understand almost nothing of what was going
on. Today St. George’s is truly their spiritual home. Through Laura
Bartlett, the parish interpreter, Sue Careless asks them what has
changed. |
Copyright The Anglican Planet © 2005 |