cjones's blog

It's amazing. Simply amazing. We've been agonizing over how to find an interpreter for our church services. Having made no progress, we turned the project over to Mom, and within a few weeks she has made more progress than we've made in many months.

The background: we finally convinced the session at our church to hire an interpreter. I say "finally," not to say that there was any resistance. Quite the opposite, they were eager to help us in any way we need. But, like good Presbyterians, they have to be thorough. We did a lot of work putting together documents explaining our particular choices with respect to Ellis's education as a deaf child, and particularly why ASL is so integral to his education even with the CI.

Once we'd explained everything, and worked out all the parameters, they gave us the go-ahead. But there was no interpreter to be found. It's difficult because religious ASL is possibly the most difficult ASL, meaning you can't get just anybody who happens to know a little sign. You need a specialist, and you need one that's available. Most interpreters, as it turns out, are committed. Add the fact that our services are, at least by reputation, more heady than most. And add that the ideal candidate would at least be Reformed, whereas most religious interpreters are coming from the Catholic persuasion.

Any way, my Muti called last night to say that she's found someone right around the corner, who is eager to help us. She's so eager that she won't take 'no' for an answer. I can't believe that after all this time, and all this work, the answer was so close. But that's often how it turns out, huh?

I only wish we had been able to move more quickly. Since we started the search, ellis is ten times as ready for an interpreter as he was then. We've definitely reached the limit of what we can do for him in services, and he clearly is stagnating. And we still haven't addressed the issue of religious education in the home. Apart from the challenges every family faces in that regard, we just don't feel that our ASL is adequate to something even so simple as the Children's Catechism.

But now there's a solution in sight. Thank heaven!