Deaf Worship Inclusion Explored

Wednesday May 6

^{Stuart Love, student in training for the ministry at Dalziel St Andrew's, with the church's signer, Rae Blagg, at prayer time during worship. The signer standing next to the minister allows the minister to 'listen' to the signing and also assists with lip reading in augmenting the signing, for members of the congregation who find that useful.}

A raft of proposals which would help deaf and hearing-impaired people take part in worship and church life are being considered following a seminar last month.

The Reach Out and Listen event held in Dalziel St Andrew’s Parish Church, Motherwell was attended by 43 people (and one dog), many of whom were hearing disabled. Around a third of the delegates used British Sign Language (BSL) as their first or preferred language.

Speakers included the minister of Dalziel St Andrew’s, the Rev Derek Hughes; Rosie Addis, Deaf Development Worker with the Church of Scotland; and the Rev Richard Durno, minister of John Ross Memorial Church for Deaf People in Glasgow.

The organisers said afterwards: “With national statistics showing 1 in 7 of the population either deaf or affected by hearing impairment, there is a feeling of frustration within this community: many of whom do not attend church as they are unable to hear what is being said.

“Deliberately the main focus of the Seminar was not on presentations and speeches but on listening and taking note of the suggestions of the delegates themselves, many of whom were deaf or extremely hard of hearing. Around a third of the delegates used British Sign Language as their first or preferred language.

“The organisers are now delighted to be faced with a huge list of very constructive ideas and are beginning the task of seeing what might realistically be tackled in the months ahead.”

In all, 52 suggestions were made, ranging from asking ministers not to walk around too much, speech training for worship leaders and improving technology to help for deaf Elders to take part in Session meetings.

Among the steps being explored in the immediate future are trials of electronic notetaking and word recognition technology, and the provision of BSL/English translation at this year’s General Assembly.

If you would like to be added to the mailing list of people interested in developments in this area, contact office@dsla.org.uk

Post Tags: deafness, worship

Comments

e. mckinney - Saturday, May 9th, 2015

“hooray! at last the church of scotland is lifting its head out of the sand and treating inclusive worship with the urgency it has long merited. Well done DL St Andrew's”

Alison Page - Thursday, May 14th, 2015

“A welcome approach, very much needed so please focus on prioritising a few ideas and implementing them quickly.
”

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