[NOTE: The following piece is primarily based on my personal
experiences from working as a volunteer at “Deaf & Blind School &
College - IDA RIEU WELFARE” and discusses the problem ‘understanding of/conceptualising
religion’ by a ‘child with hearing impairment’ and does not deal with religion
itself. The area of concern is mostly limited to Muslim children living in Pakistan, but I
hope it to be of service to anyone anywhere. I am thankful to Madam Bilquis
Bano, a senior teacher and a section in-charge of secondary school at IDA RIEU, and her fellow teacher Madam Afshan Alia,
for all their help, support and guidance.]
I was
speechless, when a hearing impaired child asked me, “is it true what they say
about God?” I couldn’t answer him then, but discovered a problem which is faced
by these children, whose parents and teachers are not well equipped to deal
with. The understanding of a hearing impaired child should be in accordance, or
as close as possible, with the normally accepted version of religion by the
society which that the child belongs to, especially in a country like Pakistan where
religion is a matter of grave importance. Otherwise, the child with hearing
impairment might not fit in and face difficulty functioning in the society.
This piece does
not discuss the concept of religion itself but the problems of its
understanding which are faced by a hearing impaired child. When it comes to
forming one’s perception and opinion about reality, five senses play a profound
role. However, a hearing impaired child falls short of one of these senses. Although
such a child is able to develop listening—with the help of cochlear implant or
hearing aid—and speech—with the help of speech therapy—but this is not the case
with the majority of such children with respect to Pakistan who are rarely offered
such an opportunity. This piece, firstly, aims at measures which can prove
helpful enabling a child with hearing impairment to develop the understanding
of religion along the lines of a normal hearing person. Secondly, it tries to
answer the question, “why it is important for parents and teachers to address
the issue of understanding of/conceptualising religion?”
Helpful Measures in Children’s
Understanding
In some cases,
only the level of understanding may differ, while in other cases, the basic
understanding of religion might be in question. To understand this, let us
divide these religious concepts into two categories:
(a)
Simple concepts
(b)
Complex concepts
Simple concepts are those which do not raise any conflicts
in mind because there is no ‘why’ involved. On the other hand, complex concepts
will raise questions and can possibly result in conflicts within one’s mind,
and ‘why’ can be a possible reason behind it. “What is your religion?” is a
question of simple concept which is going to receive a simple answer. But when
asked, “Why is religion?” or “What is religion” can create conflicts in
anyone’s mind. The understanding of complex concepts is often vague for a child
with hearing impairment or even of normal hearing.
For a child
with hearing impairment, limited options are available for learning these
concepts. They learn through:
(a)
Exposure—which
allows understanding.
(b)
Pictures—which
allows imagining.
(c)
Practices—which
allows reasoning.
All these three methods will not
only enable a child with hearing impairment to learn about religion and its
significance but also allow them to resolve the conflicts caused by the complex
concepts.
Exposure
A child can
learn about complex concepts with the
help of direct exposure from the
outside world. It might be difficult to explain to a child, let alone a child
with hearing impairment, a complex concept such as corruption or charity. But a
hearing impaired child will learn a great deal about corruption and other
social norms by the end of the day, if he is extroverted and participates in daily
dealings related to varied situations. The exposure will teach the hearing
impaired child a lot about what goes on outside his house. Most of such learned
things are tempting and prohibited like drugs, arms and guns, alcohol etc. In
these situations, religion will guide the child in face of any temptation of
doing something which is either bad or which the child is going to regret afterwards.
For this reason, the primary purpose of religion is counted upon; to establish
morality and ethics in a society by influencing and shaping the values and
belief system of an individual.
Pictures
The pictorial
display of religious beliefs in a house is a most efficient tool to teach a
child about religion. However, this practice is more prevalent in religions like
Hinduism and Christianity and not among Muslims. In fact, the use of pictures
is greatly discouraged in Islam, especially the interpretation of Islam as practiced
in the sub-continent. Just like exposure allows a child to ‘understand’,
pictures enable a child to ‘imagine’
when it comes to complex concepts. Religious artworks distinctively portray
vile and the forces of good, tells stories and myths, and drawn faces of gods
and deities are presented with a divine glow. Islamic artwork is mostly limited
to calligraphy which offers very little imagination to a Muslim child with
hearing impairment.
 |
|
From left to
right: (a) painting depicting Hindu religious story where Lord Rama is killing
Ravana; (b) Mosaic depicting Christian belief of Christ’s birth; (c) Islamic
artwork of Arabic Calligraphy at Wazir Khan Mosque
|
Children with
hearing impairment can also use pictures to convey their own understanding of
complex ideas to the world. They are fond of painting and their work of art is the
best mode of their expression.
 |
|
Artwork by a
hearing impaired child at IDA
RIEU School
for deaf depicting Rumi’s Sufism and
mysticism.
|
 |
|
Artwork by a
hearing impaired child at IDA
RIEU School
for deaf depicting the method and practice of Muslim praying.
|
 |
|
Artwork by a
hearing impaired child at IDA
RIEU School
for deaf depicting a complex concept of corruption with a snake made out
of Pakistani coins/currency and a small child in a cage with only Quran in her hands for protection.
|
Practices
Religious
practices by the members of a family also help children with hearing
impairment to comprehend the complex concepts as it is followed by a reason. We can consider the example of the
practice of offering Salat in a Muslim household:
a)
Practice: Offering Salat
b)
Reason: To please Allah, who is our Lord
This sort of reasoning allows understanding
complex ideas in order to resolve conflicts that exist within the child’s mind.
This reasoning can act as a transaction from understanding a simple concept of
offering Salat to a complex concept like doing charity with the ultimate goal
of pleasing Allah. Of course, parents and rest of the family members have a
great role to play when it comes to reasoning.
Crossing Over the Dark Side
Although
religion may allow a child with hearing impairment to function properly in a
society, especially in countries like Pakistan, children with their frail
minds may be detracted from following ethics and morals towards its destructive
tendencies. Instead of encouraging, such tendencies should be addressed by
parents, teachers and people living in the neighbourhood through resolving the
conflicts within the minds of the children from a very early age. Such
tendencies can be:
a) considering
one superior over others on the basis of religion rather than noble actions and
deeds done by a person of a different religion or sect.
b) looking
with contempt at others belonging to minority groups.
c) limiting
the scope of the definition of education only to religious studies and ignoring
the entire system and purpose of education altogether, especially by demeaning
scientific endeavours.
d) abusing
one’s fundamental rights, such as the right to vote, association and freedom of
speech to further a particular group’s political agenda under the pretext of
religion.
In case of an inability
of parents and teachers to resolve such conflicts relating to religion, the
understanding of religion will become a gap which will remain and emerge later
in life, especially during the late teen years. This allows the extremist forces
of the society to penetrate in the mind of the child, only to be used in
terrorist activities. In such a case, a child with hearing impairment is
equally at risk as a normal hearing child in crossing over the dark side of
religion.
Conclusion
While working
with children with disabilities, the aim should be to enable them to function
independently in a society which awaits them outside. Understanding of/ conceptualizing
religion is among many factors and variables which they have to overcome in
order to have acceptability, which should be assisted with the availability of
opportunities. However, role of parents and teacher should never be undermined
since only they can insure that the child will grow up to be a responsible adult,
a model citizen and a functioning member of a society. Otherwise, there is a
possibility of that child falling into the wrong hands.
