I Am Signed Mass At Saint Michael 's Church

When picking my Confirmation Saint, I wanted someone who inspired me, who I was interested in, and who I could strive relate to. A Saint who perfectly fit this description for me was St. Helen.

People used to think that being Deaf was a sin and a major disability. I don’t really understand this view, as being Deaf is not a choice because a majority of the time, most people are born Deaf. Just because a person can’t hear, doesn’t mean there is something wrong with them. Deaf culture is so mesmerizing as their is such a deep connection within the community and they even have their own language. What people need to do is put themselves in the shoes of a Deaf person and imagine how difficult it must be being the “odd one out” all the time.

One afternoon I was at Mama´s General store buying some provisions and I saw Mama’s little granddaughter Marguerite, who was extremely shy and I had seen her before with her brother when they came to the town. She was quiet, she had been mute for five years after an incident that changed her life.At the age of eight she had been raped by her mother´s boyfriend. Her uncles had killed the man and she had felt responsible for his murder therefore as à result of guilt she went into a mute stage. After I had payed for the provisions, mama had asked me if I need Bailey her oldest grandson to carry my bags, but instead of him, I wanted Marguerite to carry my bags, for a reason. That being said, I wanted to help her break out of her nutshell, and for her to speak again. The moment I saw Marguerite, I knew there was something amazing about her which no other girl had in town. Therefore, I had told mama that I would like Marguerite to carry my bags. Marguerite looked at me as if I was calling her name in a beautiful, tranquil cave that had echoed so softly that It ran so smooth like the wind. Mama and I had exchanged the elderly looks,which Marguerite did not understand by what I had meant, and with mama’s permission it was ok for her to go with me. On the way to my house we had talked about how well she was doing in school but she wasn't talking. She was enticed by the way I was pronouncing her name and would stare at me. She was shocked that I choose her to assist me out of everyone in the town. The walk to my house was overall quiet, she was mute all the way, shy, nervous and was wondering why I chose her to take my bags home with me. I wanted her to know that somebody loved her and that

In mainstream American society, we tend to approach deafness as a defect. Helen Keller is alleged to have said, "Blindness cuts people off from things; deafness cuts people off from people." (rnib.org) This seems a very accurate description of what Keller's world must have been. We as hearing people tend to pity deaf people, or, if they succeed in the hearing world, admire them for overcoming a severe handicap. We tend to look at signing as an inferior substitute for "real" communication. We assume that all deaf people will try to lip-read and we applaud deaf people who use their voices to show us how far they have come from the grips of their disability. Given this climate, many hearing people are surprised, as I was at

Yet again, his grandfather found him a high school, Germantown Friend's School (GFS) where he passed the entrance exam, the faculty at GFS were aware of Mark’s promising academic potential, but they were concerned about Mark’s deafness. He didn’t want to disappoint his grandfather so he decided to attend few classes. After that, it was convincing that Mark would be fine, but in reality, he wasn’t fine. He would have no clue about the discussions in the classroom, most of time he would just be in his own world because he wouldn’t know what’s happening around him. Mark thought that if he nods “yes” or says, “I don’t know” in most conversations, he would feel part of the group. Eventually, he got an interpreter in his classes, but even with an interpreter he would stay a few steps behind from the class. On the other hand, when other students saw the beauty of American Sign Language, they were mesmerized by it and some even went out of their way to learn it. Due to the lack of use of ASL, even Mark was sort of shocked that he was able to comprehend so much information through the communication of ASL. He stumbled through his years at GFS, but still graduated as the only deaf

I was interested in immersing myself with this group because they are a community of people that I’ve often wondered about. I’ve always wondered about the way they communicate with others and was it hard being deaf or hearing impaired in some ways. As myself, I learned that most people feel uncomfortable when meeting a Deaf person for the first time and this is very normal. When we communicate with people, we generally don’t have to think about the process. When faced with a Deaf person, we are uncertain which rules apply. We don’t know where to look, or how fast or loud to speak. When the Deaf person gives us a look of confusion, we don’t know how to correct the problem. Accept the fact that your initial

On Saturday, September 26, 2015, I attended the Deaf Rave event at the Pittsburgh Association of the Deaf. The Greater Pittsburgh Community Center for the Deaf hosted the event and all of the proceeds went towards the GPCC Sportsman Club. The event was a very laid back, enjoyable occasion. I went to the event alone but I met up with a fellow classmate after arriving and there were also a few ASL1 students who arrived a bit later. Upon entering and paying the admission fee, I was given a glow-stick necklace and glow-stick bracelet to wear. Once inside, I saw that the Community Center had been decorated with black lights, strobe lights, some colorful balloons, and they were in the

Bre went and was quiet; she didn’t mingle much but she became more and more comfortable in the setting. Regardless of her friend situation, Bre still felt like she was learning things and to her learning had always been fun. Although some days Bre felt more lonely than others. Every girl seemed to have at least one close friend and laughter was always ringing loud. What the young girl didn’t realize however was that as she got more used to her new church she became more willing to raise her hand and answer questions, or say, “Hi,” to a fellow classmate. The church was growing on Bre, and apparently she was growing on the church as well. Girls she had refused to talk to just months before were now her acquaintances. Bre was no longer the new girl, other new girls had moved in and taken her outsider place (but rest assured they’d soon be included as well, everyone always

I immediately became aware upon entering the building and taking seat at a round, conference-style table arrangement that there was no sign language interpreter available. I asked the authority figure as to whether or not one could be provided and she was unable to accommodate. If I required a translator, it would be my responsibility to access a person to provide that service and bring them along with me to the meeting. This information immediately got me thinking about what course of action I would have to take if I were not only deaf but experiencing a socioeconomic crisis.

On Saturday April 16 I attended the ASL Club event, Dack to the Resc-U! I arrived at 6:40 and the event started a little late at 7:10. When I entered the room I saw about 30 people, I would say the majority deaf maybe 20 were very very fluent in ASL and I recognized some from class, previous deaf events, and such. Most everyone were strangers, there were a few friends and couples. I was happily greeted as soon as I entered the room by two college kids. The two people that stood out most to me were the two 8 year old girls in the front row. They were best friends and there with one of the girls parents who were also both deaf. It was very cool to see two young people signing so fluently because I am mostly around students all the time. It was interesting to see her give her mom some sas

From antiquity, being deaf was looked upon as an undesirable and a culture which was disconnected with the rest of mainstream society. Often members of the community found themselves ostracized by members of other cultures, who viewed them with suspicion, and were thought to be possessed, or in communion, with undesirable “spirits”, particularly during the advent of the Christianity that was in practice during the Middle Ages. During this period, before the advent of Gutenberg’s metal, movable type printing press, the populace was mostly illiterate and religious texts and spiritual obligations/instructions were verbally transmitted to the people by the literate clerics of the day. Thus, the deaf were believed to have no access to “Fides

The deaf community does not see their hearing impairment as a disability but as a culture which includes a history of discrimination, racial prejudice, and segregation. According to an online transcript,“Through Deaf Eyes” (Weta and Florentine films/Hott productions Inc., 2007) there are thirty-five million Americans that are hard of hearing. Out of the thirty-five million an estimated 300,000 people are completely deaf. There are ninety percent of deaf people who have hearing parents (Halpern, C., 1996). Also, most deaf parents have hearing children. With this being the exemplification, deaf people communicate on a more intimate and significant level with hearing people all their lives. “Deaf people can be found in every ethnic group,

On May 1, 2016, I went to the 10:00 AM Signed Mass at Saint Michael 's Church. I went to this event with my aunt and grandmother. We arrived there 10 to 15 minutes before the mass actually started. Once we got there, I immediately tried to spot someone who was signing outside the church. I had no luck in doing this so I resorted in entering the building. Inside the church, I the first thing I realized was that the first 5 rows were reserved for the deaf community. Due to the fact that my grandmother is really weak and fragile, we sat in the 6th row. The next thing that I did was to try to have a conversation with one of the people in front of me. I attempted to have a conversation with a women who looked like she was around the age of 50, was wearing a floral dress, and had brown curly hair. I tried to get her attention, but she pushed me aside because she was praying or something. So I waited for a couple minutes, but she was still doing her own thing. I then went to talk to the translator who was doing the signing for the mass. She had long curly black hair and was wearing a black dress. I started out with a basic conversation, but I began to stutter and my signs got all mixed up. She then told me that she could speak, so we started to have a conversation in English. Before the conversation could get anywhere, the priest announced that he need 2 more altar servers so I volunteered myself. The second altar server that volunteered their self was one of my teams on my swim

Last week, I volunteered at the St. Francis Inn soup kitchen in Kensington, Philadelphia, PA. There, I served hundreds of less-fortunate people dinner and talked to many of them. The vast majority of people were very appreciative of the work that I was doing, but of course there was a select few that were rude and didn’t fully appreciate the kitchen. I gave those people the benefit of the doubt that they were truly going through rough times. After dinner, the crew and about ten of the ruder people attended evening mass in the chapel upstairs. What happened next astounded

I entered into the worship service, unaware of what to expect. I was not familiar with this church, it was a non-denominational church, but the pastor had his roots in the A.M.E. Zion Church and branched out to establish his own church. I walked into the sanctuary prepared to participate in the Sunday School. I found a seat and readied myself to engage in some meaningful discussion. After sitting for several minutes, I asked one of the gentlemen who was standing at the front of the church if they had already started and where was the lesson coming from. He looked at his watch and indicated that he didn’t know if we had time for Sunday School. A puzzled look came over my face and I couldn’t help but express my confusion as I looked at