Targeting recruitment of deaf people?

by Simon 27 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  Simon

  I can't say for certain that the two women who called at our door yesterday were JWs but I would be incredibly surprised if they weren't. You know the Witness Walk, the bag, the clothes. the makeup ... everything about them screamed "Witnesses".

  So what did they want?

  Well, Angharad answered the door and they asked if anyone in the household used sign language or if we knew of anyone who did because they were 'forming a congregation' for them.

  Hmmn.

  Perhaps general recruitment is now so ineffective that the only way they can get some interest is to target specific minorities (bad word) by offering something that they probably rarely find. Typical JW technique of being interested and 'learning your language' just to get you over the threshold of the KH where the love bombing can commence.

  What do you think? Anyone else heard of this sort of thing?
• 

  Mimilly

  I haven't heard of it - but I certainly wouldn't put it past them.

  Mim
• 

  ballistic

  Simon, I can't believe this. This exact thing happened to me about a month ago.

  I had a local witness man and his daughter call on me and asked "are you or anyone you know hard of hearing?"

  My initial reaction was that I wanted to say "Sorry what was that you said?"

  Knowing I am a DO-NOT-CALL, and given the strange question with no mention of the Watchtower , I presumed that he must be working for one of the many hearing aid companies there are springing up.

  But now you post this, it all makes sense.
• 

  searcher

  Simon,

  About 5 wks. ago at the Boston (UK) cong, the speaker was from London Bethel. During his talk he made much of the Bethelites learning sign to target deaf people, he said that they were running courses to teach sign to as many people as could learn.

  He also said that they (Bethel) were compiling a census of deaf people so that they could be witnessed to.

  Also he said that a lot at Bethel were learning chinese to target chinese students studying at university here , who could/would then go back to china and witness to thier families and ' spread the word'.

  He encoraged the congs in this area to do all of the above.

  searcher.

  edited to say i posted a thread about this talk @

  http://www.jehovahs-witness.com/forum/thread.aspx?id=35819&site=3

  searcher.

  nb, The chinese being learned may have been Mandorin or Cantonese, i am not clear, it would be the most widely spoken one.

  searcher.

  Edited by - searcher on 22 September 2002 10:4:22
• 

  blondie

  There are quite a few deaf congregations and groups in the US. There are enough to support 2 district conventions yearly, one on the East coast and one on the West coast. Mostly this is because there are enough "mature" brothers who know sign language to do the talks even though there still are translators.

  http://www.jw-media.org/releases/000930.htm

  There is quite a selection of videos in American Sign Language.

  http://www.jw-media.org/people/statistics.htm

  For the deaf, various publications have been translated into "video books" in American Sign Language and Japanese Sign Language.

  The British branch office might even have the same in British Sign Language (BSL). This is not such a new idea. Deaf speakers are to be handled just like any other foreign language group found in the territory. If a deaf person is found, a special form is filled out and given to the service overseer who gives it to the closest JW deaf group/congregation.

  It is hard to identify deaf people by their last names which is the way foreign language congregations find "victims" in the phone book. So a door-to-door search is probably necessary unless the WTS can scare up a list of deaf people in the area from deaf groups.

  There are other religions that have deaf groups and congregations. I lived next to a Lutheran deaf congregation for several years. I learned basic ASL to be able to be friendly but never "preached" to them nor they to me.
• 

  LovesDubs

  I was signing in the hall about the time that they started forming their own congregations. I was not allowed after that to sign because my signing was mostly sign ENGLISH and not ASL which they were going to make THE language to use. Once we had access to some deaf ones, we got access to the TTY directories as well and started to "hunt down" the deaf in field service. We noticed there were pockets of them, they would tend to live close to each other if possible. Also...they were mostly very poor people, very vulnerable people...once given the promise that they could regain their hearing immediately upon living to see paradise! They ate it up. We would spend entire days covering a metropolitan five county area scouring for deaf people...and after awhile, it made me so sick and so disgusted with myself, I would always volunteer to drive because I couldnt stand participating in the deception at the doors. We tried using the Watchtower and Awake that were written in Pidgin English because the syntax was close to the way the deaf talked and thought. I felt like I was chumming for sharks.

  If all they are doing is trying to increase their numbers...the deaf are unfortunately, a prime target. They should be warned. Two (ex) close friends of mine ended up being the PO and POette of the Oak Park congregation of deaf in Chicago. I tell you what...Ive never seen a more needy group of people in my life. Most of them had no jobs, no cars, no education to speak of and relied on the hearing in that congregation for everything, rides to doctors, rides to assemblies, to grocery shop, to deal with things in their lives...it was a 24/7 job for my friends to handle. If they werent driving to Chicago for something, they were on the TTY running interference for another one.

  Yes...its no wonder they are out flushing out the deaf. Who will be next? The paraplegics? I mean that with all due respect to the handicapped ones out there...but this organization is a parasite and they mean to suck off of you dear ones.
• 

  expatbrit

  Who will be next? The paraplegics?

  Nah. Next come people who can't speak. The best lambs are silent lambs, remember.

  Expatbrit
• 

  alfie

  There has been a special arrangement for the hearing impaired here on the West Coast for a number of years. In one hall there is a special section for signing, and several witnesses are specially trained to do the signing. They also have their own territories and assignments for locating people who need this special service.

  Doesn't surprise me though. We also had a huge sex abuse scandal at the School for the Deaf here and the result was the school was shut down. I guess the Witnesses see an opportunity in the making.

  CIAO4NIAO!!

  alfie
• 

  hamptonite21

  This is common for helping to identify deaf and other languages in the territory where I lived. The Jdubs would go around and do this survey and compile the info onto territory cards, this did when forming the italian speaking cong. They are probably looking to form a deaf group.
• 

  QCA1

  Hi Simon

  I visited my daughter-in-law who is a JW the other week and learned that she was taking sign language classes, she called it Theocratic Sign Language, i have heard of American sign which is slightly different from the UK but never have i heard of theocratic signing.