Rebecca A Withey: Concerns about deaf people being targeted by religious groups (BSL)

When an old school friend, Martine Monksfield, shared a video online about being unexpectedly visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses, she received a flurry of inbox messages from deaf people who had experienced the same and were not happy about it.

In Martine’s video she is visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses who rang Martine’s doorbell, and proceeded to tell her that they wanted to share news of their religion. When Martine explained that she was deaf, they asked her if she could read the written information instead.

It’s no surprise that the sign for Jehovah’s Witnesses is literally “door knocking” because of their practice of going door to door.

Receiving cold callers at the door is enough to make anyone feel unsettled – there’s something disconcerting about being approached in this way, a feeling that’s multiplied if you’re deaf and struggle with communication.

While Martine was able to confidently turn the Jehovah’s Witnesses away, it is concerning to note that there are a growing number of people being selectively visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses purely because of their deafness.

Anonymous reports from deaf people mention how they’ve felt fearful and uncomfortable about being targeted, with worries that vulnerable deaf people will be easily influenced by persuasive evangelists, without being fully aware of what they’re joining.

This type of selective evangelism has been around for quite some time and whilst it isn’t only Jehovah’s Witnesses that preach openly and persuasively, it is this religious group that has the strongest reputation of approaching deaf people in person.

I remember being at my grandparents house when I was around ten years old. We saw through the living room window that a small crowd of people were walking up my grandparents driveway and my Nan ushered my sister and I out of sight.

“Jehovah’s Witnesses!” My Nan called out as she shook her head in disapproval.

After my Nan had answered the door, she returned and told us that they were indeed Jehovah’s Witnesses and they were actively “looking for deaf people” to join their church.

The group had somehow been informed that my Nan had deaf grandchildren and came to tell us about what they do. They gave my Nan captioned videos for us to watch with sign language interpretation before my Nan firmly told them she was part of the Church of England and didn’t wish to be visited by them again.

Fast forward several years and it was only last summer that I personally had the strangest experience on my very own doorstep.

I don’t normally answer the door to cold callers and I even have a sign on my front door about this. So when my children – who were already playing outside – told me there was someone who wanted to talk to me, I went to the door with curiosity.

I was met by three ladies, one of whom proceeded to tell me she was a sign language interpreter. This lady signed fluently to tell me about their faith and their forthcoming accessible services that I was invited to. She told me the ‘end of times’ was coming but the good news was that I could be saved.

I was baffled. Why had an interpreter just turned up on my doorstep offering this information? They explained that they had been asking around in the neighbourhood to find out if there were any deaf people and they had been pointed in my direction.

Firstly – as Martine pointed out herself online – disclosing where deaf people live really is a GDPR issue and a violation of privacy. We haven’t asked to be contacted about this.

Secondly, this type of close confrontation is enough to make anyone feel uncomfortable in what’s meant to be your safe space. There’s a sense of pressure when someone turns up on your door and if they’re only targeting deaf people, there’s a strange vulnerability to that too.

What’s more, I have read accounts of deaf people who converted to the faith due to pressure and being repeatedly harassed before they later realised their heart had never been there in the first place.

Even though I had managed to turn the Jehovahs Witnesses away from my door by saying I was not interested, I was still hounded with personal hand written letters, leaflets and posters from their group until my husband made a complaint, returning all of their mail and requesting that they remove our address from their system.

Whilst I absolutely believe we are free as humans to choose whatever faith we wish to follow, and religion can indeed be a fulfilling part to some people’s lives, there is something quite unsettling about the act of knocking on someone’s door in the hope of converting them.

I spoke to MG* who is a Jehovah’s Witness to find out why they work in this way. MG told me that,

“A large part of our faith is ministry and sharing the good news with those that may not have had the chance to read the Bible.

The main website for JW has several sign language translations because we see faith as being inclusive and it’s important to preach to as many people as possible.

We are trained in door to door ministry and we will always respect people’s wishes and we will only return if someone has expressed interest.

It is important to us that we share the good news of salvation before the end of times and it is our intention to let as many people know about this as possible.”

Perhaps there are good intentions there but ultimately the fact remains – most deaf people do not enjoy being interacted with in this way on their doorstep.

There are also huge privacy concerns for those who don’t wish for their personal information to be shared.

It is commendable that the religion has created so many sign language resources on their website, however perhaps they could promote these resources online via social media instead of purposely hunting down deaf people in person.

Working in this manner would ensure the right people could find the information online that they’re looking for and then perhaps in time the “pushy” or “forceful” stereotype that Jehovah’s Witnesses have amongst the deaf community will naturally dissipate.

Rebecca A Withey is the Assistant Editor for The Limping Chicken. She is also a script writer, BSL consultant and creative artist based in the Midlands. Rebecca is a Deaf, bilingual BSL user. Find out more at www.rawithey.com