Bernadette Griffith

There’s a lot of safety in being unknown as a writer and person in general. Privacy has always been important to me as I have children and vulnerabilities like anyone else. Being deaf and feeling invisible most of your life certainly adds to a feeling of fear when you step out of the quiet bubble into a noticeable moment. Getting older, I also had to learn to integrate all the parts of myself to feel genuine about messages I put out into the world.

But becoming an advocate for others who cannot interact with the world in the same sense that I do now… is different. It’s new. It’s scary. It’s a sense of responsibility I have never experienced in the past. When I was a teenager, I advocated for many groups in my service work, but beyond my spontaneous naivety, there was not much depth in understanding the true responsibility of solidarity with those for whom I advocated. Constantly distinguishing between being deaf and not Deaf (cultural community primarily using sign language) is also another thing to navigate because I have no one in my immediate circle who signs on a regular basis. Plus, I wasn’t born deaf. Therefore, speaking on behalf of that community is not a possibility other than basic facts like, “That requires hearing. Please think more about accessibility for the deaf and the Deaf. Thank you.”

In Catholic Social Teaching, the Church presents 7 themes found on the USCCB website: https://www.usccb.org/beliefs-and-teachings/what-we-believe/catholic-social-teaching/seven-themes-of-catholic-social-teaching

They include:

Life and dignity of the human person

Call to family, community, and participation

Rights and Responsibilities

Option for the Poor and Vulnerable

The dignity of work and the rights of workers

Solidarity

Care for God’s creation

As you can imagine, being deaf interacts with each theme. Even creation care becomes a concern when wondering what to do with old hearing aids or processors and how are they being made?

So, in becoming an advocate, it feels like another layer of vulnerability to constantly and consistently lean into a humble approach of, “I don’t know, but I will find out, and when I do, I will try to be as responsible as I can with that information whether it helps evangelization or education around not just my own vulnerable population but others as I discern life choices.”

It’s a constant search for the right words and audiences, but if I keep the Holy Spirit as my guide, I do believe anything is possible to overcome obstacles for those we are called to care for in this lifetime. It may be small progress, but it’s something, and if we all did something, maybe something could change.

Here’s hoping, even if it’s only a whisper.