Blogger of Jared

Wayne Bennett was one of the first Deaf members of the church called by the First Presidency to a full-time American Sign Language mission. Below is a small portion of the world of Deaf missionary work as he saw/sees it

1. First off, as an introduction, can you provide some basic info about your life up to this point (ex: Wife and kids, professional accomplishments, church callings, mission location and time, etc…)

I have been married to Bonita Louise Whelan (who is deaf also) for over 30 years now. We have three children and one grandson. I worked in education for the deaf for over 30 years and have worked as a supervising teacher, dean of student (director of student life) at two schools for the deaf, and as an assistant superintendent for a short time. I am currently not working at the present time due to a serious accident in the summer of 2005 where I broke my neck in 4 places. I’m still recuperating from that.
I was the first deaf elder called by the First Presidency specifically to work with the deaf in Southern California back in 1968. I understand that this is the first time that a deaf person had been called to work with the deaf. There had been deaf elders called before but they were called on regular missions and then assigned to work with the deaf by their mission presidents. I served for 3 months in the California South Mission and then in December, 1968 I was transferred by the First Presidency to the Los Angeles California Mission to work with the other deaf elders who had been called. I served the rest of my mission there.
I have served in many positions in the church. I have served as a counselor to 7 bishops in both deaf and hearing wards. I was on the first committee that developed the dictionary of sign language unique to the LDS church. I have worked closely with the Members with Special Needs Curriculum department for many years. I am currently serving as branch president of the Riverside Third Deaf Branch in the Riverside California West Stake.

2. When you were growing up, was it clear to you that you would serve as a full-time missionary or was there some doubt about the deaf and missionary work (i.e., what was church policy during your youth regarding deaf missionaries)?

There was never any question in my mind that I was going on a mission. I just did not know where. I was told one year before my mission that I would be called to Southern California to work with the deaf. Living in Louisiana where the church was not very strong at that time(my branch only had about 80 members) I had never heard anything about not allowing deaf people to go on missions. I knew nothing about the church policy on it at that time and frankly it would not have made any difference. I would have fought it.

3. What types of challenges did you and other deaf missionaries face that the hearing missionaries did not have to worry about? In your opinion, do deaf missionaries today have the same challenges?

There were several challenges. One challenge we had is one no one has to face today: There had never been a full time mission program for the deaf until I and the others were called. We were the first and we had nothing! There were no discussions for the deaf, there were no former returned missionaries to serve as a resource with the exception of about 3 or 4 who worked with the deaf for a short time. There were no departments in Salt Lake City which had the responsibility for meeting the needs of the deaf.

Another challenge is teaching materials for the missionaries to use. Often missionaries come out not fully prepared to work with the deaf. This goes for both deaf and hearing missionaries working with the deaf. I do not think the MTC is doing an adequate job training the missionaries.
Another challenge that makes it difficult for the missionaries to the deaf is that often they are the only set in the mission who are working with the deaf and they often will have a mission president who do not understand the unique challenges faced in missionary work for the deaf by the missionaries for the deaf. These missionaries often do not have a chance to share with other sets and bounce ideas off each other and inspire each other to do better as they work with the deaf.

5. What has the church done to address the needs of the deaf membership and how would these tools have changed your mission?

A. Doug Hind was hired as manager of Special Needs Curriculum and he has done a tremendous amount of work to make a lot of things available to the deaf such as the DVD Book of Mormon, captioned tapes, captioned broadcasts, etc.

B. MTC training was set up for missionaries to the deaf which is a giant step in the right direction. Unfortunately, the training is often supervised by leaders who have little or no experience with deafness and do not ask the deaf priesthood leaders in the field what is needed. This makes it difficult to develop an effective MTC training program.

C. There is a lot of audio visual technology today that was not available 30 years ago. We have access to the internet, DVD’s, closed captioning for films and DVD’s, Power Point presentations, etc.…the list is endless. There is a problem however and that is most deaf people’s native language is not English but ASL. So it’s a special challenge. It’s a real challenge to get the church to understand the true problems that deaf members face.

6. Because deaf parents don’t typically have deaf children, there is a heavy burden placed on missionaries/leadership both to consistently bring in new converts and to constantly train the flow of new members on church policies, procedures, etc…. This lack of 2nd and 3rd generation membership makes the deaf LDS community unique from any other congregation in the church. What are the pro’s and con’s of this unique identifier?

There are very few pros in this situation. I was born a 4th generation LDS member in the Deep South in Louisiana. I grew up in a small branch of about 80 members. The majority of the membership were converts. The youth grew up and took over the leadership positions and helped the branch grow into a ward and then into a stake. Today there are 3rd and 4th generation LDS people who are in leadership positions now and helping to strengthen the church.

With the Deaf Units, we do not have this advantage. I would say that 90% of our greatest deaf leaders had hearing children who do not stay in the deaf branch but move on to being members of hearing wards.

Consequently each new generation, we start all over again unless people such as myself train the new converts so that they can take over. The new converts do not have the advantage of being raised in the gospel. This is a classic case of where one must truly depend on the Spirit to guide them in making the right decisions.

Thanks for taking the time to speak with us.

No problem., I absolutely love the Blogger of Jared. There is nothing so refreshing as to enter the world of the internet, such as it is, and find amongst the pernicious evils, a ray of light, a beacon, a star in a dark cyberspace. Thank you for all that you do here.

Okay… Wayne didn’t really say that part… but we’re sure he was thinking it.