Scottish Catholic Observer

The world’s only deaf and blind Catholic priest has called on the Church to open its heart to the visually and hearing impaired.

During a visit to Scotland, Fr Cyril Axelrod said the Church must learn from those who are deaf and blind and said he was praying ‘for all the bishops and the Pope to open their hearts and show their love to deafblind people.’

The priest—a Catholic convert—was speaking in Lenzie Union Church Hall outside Glasgow at an event organised by charity Deafblind Scotland.

Fr Axelrod spoke to the SCO via an interpreter using Hands-On Signing, where a deafblind person places their hands over the hands of a signer to enable them to follow the signing movements.

Calling

Fr Axelrod was born deaf in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1952 to Jewish parents. Unable to follow the service in his synagogue, he found a calling to become a Catholic priest and minister to other deaf people.

Tackling prejudice

Fr Axelrod said that we must learn ‘not to be afraid of disabled people or afraid of having a disability, to open one’s heart and enable people to communicate and to ensure that people can be active members of their family.’

“Families [can] be afraid of having a deafblind child or a deafblind adult and they think ‘I don’t know what to do.’ So its about encouraging people and families how to communicate with deafblind people or family members and remember God’s love for them, because it is very important for deafblind people to remember that they are part of family life and they are loved by their family. That’s the main motivation for my work.”

Fr Axelrod said prejudice against the deafblind and disabled does exist but that ‘it comes from ignorance—nobody has been able to teach them.’

“It’s very important… that people remain open and to remove one’s fears and perhaps prejudices and learn that they need to embrace people who are deafblind, welcome them and be open to them. It is not easy and we have a long way to go to teach that but what I’m trying to do is plant the seed. Will it grow? Hopefully it will.

There are 356,000 deafblind people in the UK. They face a number of social and associated health problems. Last month, it emerged a deafblind 8-year-old girl was refused care benefits because the Department for Works and Pensions deemed her disability not severe enough. Her care has continued to be refused because her father works in Germany.

Help and understanding

Drena O’Malley of Deafblind Scotland said deafblind people have a particular problem finding volunteers to help them leave their house and socialise.

“I don’t know more than two deafblind people in Scotland who go to church,” she said.

John Boyle, a parishioner at St Alphonsus, attended Fr Axelrod’s event. He went blind after developing glaucoma and has partial hearing loss.  He explained that his condition has given him an understanding of the isolation that can come with deafness and blindness.

“If someone is telling a joke and everyone is laughing —nothing is worse [if you are deaf],” he said. “I wonder how that person feels missing the joke—are they thinking ‘are they laughing at me?’”

Mr Boyle says he has limited independence—he couldn’t get to church unless a guide or his wife took him—and believes not enough is done within the Church to support those who are deafblind, highlighting a lack of provisions for confession.

—For more information or help with deafblindness, contact Deafblind Scotland by visiting www.deafblindscotland.org.uk or phoning 0141 775 3311

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—This story ran in full in the March 20 edition print of the SCO, available in parishes.