Maryam Amir – Muslims disabilities

			That I was invited to speak at,
and I gave the lecture, and a
		

			woman came up to me afterwards,
and she was deaf. She is deaf, and
		

			she had a friend who was taking
sign language classes, and so no
		

			excuse me. She was an interpreter.
She was a sign language
		

			interpreter with American Sign
Language at that point, she had
		

			already graduated, and she was an
attendee at the conference. She
		

			didn't go to interpret, interpret
for her friend. She just happened
		

			to be an attendee who realized
that her friend didn't have
		

			someone who can interpret for her,
and so she they came up to me
		

			after the lecture, and the sister
who was who is deaf, told me that
		

			she had contacted this conference
and asked them to provide an
		

			interpreter for her, and they
didn't, and they finally agreed,
		

			but the person that they had was
just starting to take classes,
		

			could barely interpret anything,
and also her attitude wasn't one
		

			in which she was welcoming to the
questions that the Deaf sister was
		

			asking, and she asked me to
please, Tell other people, please.
		

			We have a right to knowledge. Deaf
Muslims have a right to knowledge.
		

			And I really just thought about
that, because how many times have
		

			you gone for taraweeh and
		

			listened to recitation
		

			and never thought about what a
Deaf Muslim
		

			is not able to hear and not able
to experience in Ramadan, the
		

			Masjid is close to us right now as
a typically abled Muslim, have you
		

			thought about how that impacts
Muslims with special needs? Have
		

			you thought about the fact that
usually Muslims with special needs
		

			already have access concerns when
it comes to most of our mashajid
		

			now us typically abled Muslims are
experiencing the masjid without
		

			access, which many of us already
don't have access for so many
		

			other reasons. But let's just put
all those other reasons aside for
		

			a second and just think about
typically, excuse me, Muslim
		

			special needs.
		

			How much different is the Ramadan
than it usually is? Is it normally
		

			filled with the Masjid? Anyway?
		

			We as a community, our entire
community, all of us, whether
		

			we're typically abled or whether
we have a special need, we have to
		

			recognize that
		

			each of us has a place in the
community, and those places are
		

			going to be different, and those
places are all needed and are and
		

			are all critical SubhanAllah. When
we look at
		

			Ramadan and the lessons that it
teaches us, it teaches us how we
		

			are all in front of Allah seen,
all of us are seen, and not just
		

			the outer parts of us, but the
depths of the struggles that we
		

			have in our heart are seen, and
those are going to vary. The
		

			degrees of that are going to vary
based on every single person's
		

			experiences and their needs, but
we are laid out bare in front of
		

			Allah. Our hearts are
		

			and coming to him with that heart,
and if we have
		

			a privilege in our community,
recognizing that the Prophet
		

			sallallahu, alayhi wa sallam built
his community as a place in which
		

			people who have privilege and
people who have privileges in
		

			different ways, but are not of
those who have the power with
		

			privilege.
		

			All of them
		

			are used to call people to Allah.
		

			Abdullah ibn umik toum was a blind
man, and he was appointed as a mud
		

			of the Prophet salallahu alayhi wa
salam. And what is that place of
		

			Adhan? It's not simply making the
adhan, which is a huge unearned is
		

			then, but it's also a place of
		

			ambassadorship. It's a place where
people are going to see what a
		

			Muslim looks like, what someone
calling to Allah to the prayer
		

			looks like. It's the
		

			Prophet sallallahu, alayhi wa
sallam, putting someone in a
		

			leadership position and showing
everyone from the outside that a
		

			person who is blind is deeply
needed in our community, not
		

			simply welcome. That's important,
but they're needed in our
		

			community.
		

			We have the opportunity this
Ramadan to ensure that you as a
		

			special needs Muslim and you as a
typically abled Muslim,
		

			can come back into the masajid
that are close to us right now,
		

			all of us having experienced not
truly what it's like to not have
		

			access to the masjid, if someone
is a special needs Muslim, but
		

			understand the pain of not being
able to access it, as many Muslims
		

			do for so many different reasons,
but we can choose to come back to
		

			our masajid, Inshallah, in a
better way, where we remember the
		

			pain of those doors not being
closed a.
		

			Excuse me, of those doors not
being open for us if we're
		

			typically abled Muslims and
choosing to come back and change
		

			the way that the masajid are for
our brothers and sisters, who are
		

			those who have special needs,
		

			Allah created each of us
differently for a reason.
		

			He has chosen many of you to be
parents of children with special
		

			needs, and you might not know why,
		

			but I want you to know that Allah
		

			chose you for something greater
than so many people can know the
		

			wisdom of he is
		

			the all wise and the Forever
loving, and he has gifted our
		

			Ummah with your children. We're
grateful for the gift of your
		

			children, and
		

			as someone who is a typically
abled Muslim, that means that I
		

			don't have a disability.
Inshallah, I hope that so many
		

			other people reach out to you and
so many other typically abled
		

			Muslims will be able to firmly say
that we are your allies, that we
		

			appreciate everything that you're
doing, that Allah Spano wa Taala
		

			has honored you, and that we are
so honored to Inshallah, the
		

			allies in the struggle To make our
community like that of the Prophet
		

			Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa
sallam, may Allah answer all of
		

			your da and make this Ramadan an
extremely beautiful one for our
		

			community to come back to the
Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa
		

			sallam is a model in which every
single person knows they have a
		

			place, they have a They have a
space and that they're needed for
		

			this community. I.