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Bernice Tuttle, deaf since about with spinal meningitis at age 6, first learned of United Methodist Women from a hearing woman.
"A woman told me about the organization's work, and that it was possible to have a United Methodist Women unit for the deaf," said Ms. Tuttle, a member of First United Methodist Church in Morgantown, N.C.
That's all she needed to know. Soon, she and several other women began organizing such a unit in Marion District in Western North Carolina Conference. In 1997, Ms. Tuttle, Clara Dickson and the Rev. Connie King founded the unit, which is committed to expanding the church's witness to and service in the deaf community.
Ms. Dickson was born deaf, as were her parents, and a sister and brother. Her grandmother was in the first class at North Carolina School for the Deaf in Morganton, built in 1894.
Ms. Dickson and her husband, who is also deaf, have four adult children, all hearing, and are members of North Morganton United Methodist Church. The Dicksons reared their children in the church although the church had no interpreter for them. Even when Ms. Dickson was baptized, there was no interpreter.
Ms. King, a hearing woman, has been involved with ministries in the deaf community for a long time. She serves as assistant pastor over deaf ministries at First United Methodist Church in Morganton and is mental-health therapist for the deaf with a community agency. Ms. King was the first certified interpreter in North Carolina and has taught sign language in the schools, translated for Western North Carolina Conference annual conference sessions, and advocated for the deaf community.
The United Methodist Women unit has undertaken a number of projects since its inception. The unit's service projects have included:
Perhaps the most vital service the unit has undertaken is visiting deaf members in the community, in hospitals, nursing homes, and prisons weekly. They visit the sick and bring fruit and flowers to shut-ins.
"The deaf community takes care of its own here," Ms. King said. "Often deaf persons who are placed in nursing homes are left in a corner and ignored because no one tries to communicate with them. Without visits from this unit, they would be forgotten."
The Marion District United Methodist Women Deaf Ministry Unit members believe their unit is proof that deaf and hearing communities have a lot to learn from each other.
"I like to sign, but I feel like mainstreaming has taught me a lot
and can be beneficial to the deaf because sometimes we are isolated," Ms. Tuttle
said. "Hearing and deaf need to learn to accept each other, but if we stay
separate we won't."
URL: http://gbgm-umc.org/news/2001/feb/umwdeafsc.stm