The Lord works in very mysterious ways sometimes. One thing that has been so frustrating for me is helping people understand why attending church is hard for Steve and I. People make assumptions based on their own beliefs, experiences, and expectations. It is hard enough when the assumptions are directed towards a hearing person who lives on EARth. What they do not understand is that it has nothing to do with them or the Church. It’s the fact that Steve does not live on EARth. (See Destination EARth or EYEth?)
My sister sent me this video a couple of days ago:
I was raised on a dairy farm in Wisconsin and hated to get up at 4:30 a.m. in the middle of bitter cold winters to milk the dumb cows. When I left home at 18, I never wanted to see another cow. I emailed my sister back and said, “Why would the aliens want to abduct a cow? They must be nuts.”
At the same time, I was learning about the Deaf Community’s concept of the planet EYEth where hearing and speaking are not necessary and everything is visual. (Read about Planet EYEth.) Steve had not heard of the planet EYEth. You may recall that he likes to be called “Cow” and his name sign is Cow. (You will have to ask him why.) So when I sent him this video, we put two and two together and figured this cow in the video must be him because he was abducted onto the planet EYEth.
Of course this is all in fun, but it got me thinking about how I can explain our frustration to the people in our ward. I can tell them about the planet EYEth and that Steve is stuck there. He wants very much to come to us on EARth, but he can’t. So if we want him to participate fully in the ward, we have to go get him. The way to do that is to learn about his world and learn how to communicate with him. Until we do that, he will stay stuck on EYEth. I can’t do it all by myself.
I don’t know. Will this help people understand?
Filed under: Destination EYEth
That’s interesting -=- I saw the whole “Eyeth” thing as a wish to live ON that world, where things are set up naturally for “people of the eye,” that for a deaf person, it would be nice to be living on Eyeth instead of being stuck on Earth in a world that’s not set up for them.
I often think the same thing about being a woman, wanting to be on a planet where we are the default, our ways of doing things, our ways of interacting, are the norm. Where we are the vast majority of the goverment, where the laws are written for us, where no one says, “Wow, you’re smart, for a girl.”
Instead I’m stuck here — on a world where one or us on the Supreme Court is considered some sort of major victory, and no matter your opinions on Hilary Clinton, a woman president is a pipe dream that will not happen within my lifetime.
Just as I’d like to take a rocket to that other Planet Woman, a deaf person would love to live on Eyeth, a world where their ways of doing things are the default.
Your partner’s not stuck on Eyeth and wanting to go to Earth. It’s the other way around … provided my own experience as a woman in overwhelmingly male-dominated fields is parallel.
How lovely it would be to not be in exile in a world not built for you, to not feel as if you were born on the wrong world.
From what I understand there are some deaf people who identify more with hearing people than they do with the Deaf Community, the ones who wish they lived on EYEth.
I will ask Steve to comment when he has a chance.
One thing that might have you confused is Steve was not born deaf. He became deaf at age 7 because of illness.
Steve is not as wordy as I am. His comment is:
“Sounds good I am impressed. A rescue mission indeed is needed. Cow on EYEth planet.”