What matters deafness of the ears, when the mind hears?

I don’t know how common all-deaf congregations are, but this is interesting.

It turns out her last congregation (actually I think her only one) where she worked for at least 20 years was a deaf congregation. Anyway, she taught our congregants the beginning of the "Shema" (Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our G-d, the Lord is One ") using signs she developed with her congregation.  Her sign  for "hear" in this case was ( I believe) a gentle upward tapping over the heart with the open right hand, moving to the throat then slightly diagonally toward the right ear then up over the head while raising her eyes and head slightly.  

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Actually, what caught my eye was the comment following the blog post on how "It’s so sad that Hearing families put the burden of communication on their Deaf child. Many of these Hearing parents claim they would “do anything” to help their Deaf child, including carving up their child’s head with CIs. But they still refuse to sign, because it’s “too hard.”

True, so true.

One common thread I see among hearing parents is that they have a desire to communicate with their deaf child. I wonder if most of us have parents who can sign in ASL. It may be too premature of an question because many of us grew up in a generation where sign language was forbidden so it may not be a fair question. However I do know that many deaf people learned ASL at some time in their lifetime.

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