Love Filled the Gap When Touch Became Taboo

Touch brought James Ryan to God. Then, in 2020, touch became taboo.

“I was shocked and scared,” said Ryan of the pandemic restrictions that threatened to isolate him in his dark, silent world.

Ryan is blind and deaf. The 53-year-old “sees” his world through touch—people, places and things. That sense, sharpened by necessity, brings Ryan great joy. “I love to touch things in nature,” he said, “especially things the Creator has made, like shells and rocks and minerals.”

Ryan learned about his Creator by studying the Bible in Braille. Tactile signing—a form of sign language that relies on touch rather than sight—has been his connection to worship with a congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses for the past 30 years.

Last March, in response to the growing threat of COVID-19, Jehovah’s Witnesses suspended all in-person congregation gatherings, replacing them with virtual meetings held via videoconferencing applications.

“God views life as sacred, and so do we,” said Robert Hendriks, U.S. spokesman for Jehovah’s Witnesses, regarding the organization’s decision. “The value of life transcends even the value of Christians meeting together."

Jehovah’s Witnesses have long cared for the needs of the deaf and blind. For over a century, the organization has produced Bible-based publications for the blind. Today, Bible study material is available in Braille—as well as 100 sign languages—on the Witnesses’ official website, jw.org.

Still, Ryan’s fellow congregants couldn’t help but worry. Sheltering in place at home and unable to see or hear Zoom meetings, their friend would be uniquely isolated.

“A lot of us were concerned,” said Collin Braley, who attends an American Sign Language (ASL) congregation of Jehovah’s Witnesses with Ryan in New Bedford, Massachusetts. “He loves the meetings. To have such a limited opportunity to be with people face to face, and then to have that taken away because of the pandemic—it really hurt my heart.”

Love for Ryan moved his fellow worshippers to action. “We immediately discussed what could be done to help him,” said John Smith, who also attends Ryan’s congregation. “We started out including him in our meetings via a series of emails that he could read with his Braille reader as the meeting was going on.”

Over the months, that process has been refined. Now, some nine volunteers are assigned to translate sections of each meeting from ASL into text. Aided by voice recognition technology, they interpret everything from fellow worshippers’ expressions of faith during discussion parts to descriptions of videos and congregation announcements.

As a result of their efforts, Ryan not only “hears” the meetings in real time but participates as well. Ahead of each meeting, he emails in comments to be read on his behalf. And once a month, someone from Ryan’s congregation comes to his home to help him connect to Zoom so he can deliver a talk on a Bible topic at the meeting. That person stays to tactile sign the rest of the meeting to Ryan, using masks and hand sanitizer to minimize coronavirus risk.

Eager to help even fellow Christians whom they have never met, Ryan’s congregation reached out to deaf-blind Witnesses in neighboring cities. Soon, several others were receiving the same assistance, including Zenola Tyson, of Camp Hill, Pennsylvania.

Tyson was born deaf. Then in her 30s, she began to progressively lose her sight to Usher syndrome; by her late 50s, Tyson was completely blind.

After feeling overlooked for years by churches for the deaf, Tyson said she saw a difference right away when she joined a congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses. “Jesus said his true followers would love each other,” said the 64-year-old. “I felt that love among the Witnesses.”

Tyson sees evidence of God’s love through the congregation now more than ever. Each week, someone visits to tactile sign a meeting, utilizing masks and gloves for safety. “I thank Jehovah for my congregation's continuous hard work,” she said, referring to God by his name as revealed in the Bible. “I feel wonderful.”

Last summer, an exciting gift for deaf-blind Witnesses delivered yet more proof of that love. When it was announced that the Witnesses’ annual convention would be presented virtually for the first time in the organization’s history due to the pandemic, many wondered what provisions would be made for the deaf-blind.

To their amazement, printed transcripts of the entire three-day convention program, including a full-length Bible drama, were provided in Braille.[i]

Months later, the convention’s uplifting program continues to help Ryan look beyond the pandemic to the Paradise promised in the Bible. “Soon, we will live in a peaceful world where we’ll never have to feel anxious or afraid,” he said. “What an exciting future!”

Such efforts along with the continued labors of fellow congregants after almost a year into the pandemic are only to be expected, said Braley: “There is no such thing as ‘inconvenience’ where love is involved.”

For his part, Ryan is moved by his fellow worshippers' loving efforts on his behalf—but not surprised.

“I am deaf and blind,” said Ryan. “Jehovah takes extra care of me!”

More information on the activities of Jehovah’s Witnesses is available at jw.org, with content in over 1,000 languages.
[i] All Jehovah’s Witnesses’ publications are available free of charge.