Letters - 20 September 2024
From exclusion and inclusion to befriending politicians
Exclusion and inclusion
I was very disappointed to see that, in my article about the lived experience of being disabled among Friends (30 August), the Friend chose to remove the capital ‘D’ for Deaf and to use lower case ‘d’ deaf instead.
It was a deliberate choice to say ‘Deaf’, not ‘deaf’, as this is the way in which people in the Deaf community choose to be recognised. Deaf people are in a highly marginalised group. Using British Sign Language as their first language, they see themselves as a cultural group primarily. Given that I was talking about meeting the communication needs of Deaf, hard of hearing, partially sighted or blind people, it was particularly relevant to use Deaf.
I was saddened that my choice to include the Deaf community was effectively erased. This is, regrettably, not untypical of the exclusion that all Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people experience at times among Friends. The decision came across as ableist – the all too frequent removal of choice and independence; a superiority of non-disabled views that minimises the value of disabled experiences.
Friends, it is not our job as Deaf, disabled and neurodivergent people to teach you everything about our communities. Sometimes you need to do the work and educate yourselves about us. We grow tired of having to take the responsibility for trying to make the Society of Friends include us. It is high time that you stepped up and played your part.
Erica Thomas
Quaker Disability Equality Group
Still lost and broken?
The recent article by Matt Rosen (6 September) hits the nail gently on the head.
Today many Friends rightly find themselves at home in Quaker Meeting because of shared values as expressed by the Quaker testimonies. Early Friends had to start from scratch. They were lost and broken people in a broken country; they were changed and energised when they met within themselves one who they believed to be the ‘Christ’ revealed by Jesus. It was from this new perspective, bound together by love, that they envisioned the testimonies.
Can Quaker Meeting still be a home where our present brokenness is exposed and healed, and our testimonies, both personal and collective, envisioned anew? I hope so.
Geof Kinns
