Building Bridges of Communication at Family Retreat

By |Published On: July 21, 2015|Categories: Family Retreats|

“It’s important to know that people with disabilities can communicate like anyone else. God made them that way for a reason,” said intern Katelyn Casey as she shared about her time at Bison Ranch Family Retreat.

For her, no one illustrated this principle better than the Fass family. When Jeremy Fass was a little boy, his parents dropped him off at the Tucson Deaf School and didn’t return. Despite this heartbreaking beginning, Jeremy is an energetic husband and father of three children.

This year when their family arrived at Family Retreat, Jeremy was the only deaf person. But he took it upon himself to build bridges of communication: he taught deaf culture classes, addressing the common misconceptions people have and also shared stories of when people saw his family using sign language and thought that they were all deaf.

After clearing up any misconceptions about his disability, Jeremy began building bridges of communication with the other families and volunteers by teaching the alphabet and a song in sign language. He also built these bridges of communication on the individual level.

Even though Katelyn was the perfect volunteer for the Fass family because of her Associate’s degree in Deaf Studies, she was still nervous about using her sign language. And her fellow volunteer, Beaudy, didn’t know any sign language. But Jeremy’s family welcomed them both through their contagious humor – you could’ve found them telling stories and jokes together in the dining hall, with Katelyn and Beaudy as part of the family! Family Retreat is a place for building bridges of communication, and Jeremy and his family demonstrated that words aren’t always necessary.

Join Us at Family Retreat

At Joni and Friends, we value each person as an image-bearer of God, worthy of dignity and respect! We create a rich, Christ-centered environment at each Family Retreat that is safe and accepting for every member of the family.

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