Name the differences

Q - What makes a deaf person different than a hearing person?
A - Their hearing is impaired.

I am not trying to be trite with this question, it is not a joke. Granted, deafness does result in cultural differences, but as a person, the only difference is that they can't hear. The impact of this is significant. We deal with this on a daily basis. The thesis statement goes like this; what we believe about who a person is will affect how we relate to them. We have seen the outworking of this in the lives of people who genuinely care about the deaf, but are not convinced that they are the same as the hearing. They presume upon them greater disabilities. While their love is real, their actions result in hurting rather than helping. And, while the differences seem slight, when worked out over years upon years, the deaf begin to believe themselves that they have these greater disabilities. Its tragic and serious. I guess the moral of the story is that we really need to examine our genuine beliefs about other people. Our beliefs will affect how we relate with them. And, if our beliefs about them are not informed through who God sees them to be, we will be doing them and ourselves a disservice.