#empathy – rootedbythewater.blog

October is Blindness Awareness Month

October 15, 2026Leave a Comment

I recently discovered that it’s blindness awareness month. It aims to promote education, advocacy and how to include people who are blind or have low vision. According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention about 1 million Americans live with total or legal blindness. Many people have visual problems correctable by glasses or contact lenses. Others vision cannot be corrected. I fall in that category. I was born with a birth defect affecting both of my optic nerves. They are way smaller than most peoples optic nerves. Later I was diagnosed with optic atrophy. While I did look up the statistics for various visual limitations both in the United States and worldwide, I won’t bore you with that information. However if you are interested just do a quick Google search.

I would like to explain the difference between being blind and legally blind. Blindness is a general medical term describing severe reduction in vision or complete vision loss. Total blindness refers to those with no light and form perception, where everything appears dark. Legally blind is more of a legal term to measure severe vision loss. It refers to people whose corrected visual acuity in their best eye is 20/200 or worse. My vision is 20/400. What that means if you compare my vision with someone with 20/20 vision (perfect vision) What I see from 20 feet, you can see from 400 feet.

The major causes of vision loss are; cataracts Glaucoma, age-related macular degeneration, diabetic retinopathy and uncorrected refractive errors. Refractive errors can be corrected with glasses and contact lens. Cataracts refers to the clouding of the eyes natural lens causing blurry vision and dimness. This is the leading cause of blindness worldwide. ( https://ophthalmology.wustl.edu/understanding-the-leading-causes-of-blindness/ )

I personally never knew anything about blindness until I experienced it. (Add to that my hearing problem, and it can be a bit much at times.) I always thought that someone who is blind could seeing nothing at all. In reality the severity of vision loss ranges quite a bit. For me, I don’t have blurry vision but I don’t see it all. I guess the “layman’s” version would go something like this. With my optic nerves so small not enough stimulus gets through to tell my brain all that I’m looking at. I get parts but not all. I see people, trees, flowers, animals as long as they are a good size. Details can be very troubling. The smaller it is, the harder it is for me to see. Corrective lens do not help me at all. I have a video magnifying machine that enlarges whatever I put under it. My iPad is a favorite for zooming in large so I can see what I’m looking at. E-books are delightful. I love reading and can enlarge the e-book to a font I can see. Unfortunately, I can’t drive. Thank God for family and friends to help me get where I need to go. Shopping is not the best experience. Seeing prices is impossible without using some device to make it larger. It’s also difficult to see the selection and sizes. Do I let my limitations stop me? Not really. If you see me in the grocery store, you will likely see my iPad out. I use it to zoom in and “see” what I’m looking for. I find many things by memorization, color, packaging etc. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Being able to feel things is also helpful; such as a keyboard I can feel or garage code pad I can feel.

There are ways to help when you see someone struggling to see. You can offer assistance. Speak directly to the visually impaired person. Introducing yourself. Ask before helping. You can offer your elbow or arm, if they want a guide. Be descriptive with directions. If you’re in a group and sharing photos on your phone, don’t assume they aren’t interested. You can zoom the photo and even describe what’s in the photo. If the blind person has a “guide dog” never interact with the dog while it is working. For me, I have depth perception issues, especially on uneven surfaces. Stairs are tricky. Going up I’m fine, going down, I must be careful.

With physical vision we are different, but with spiritual vision we are in the same boat. No one knows what tomorrow holds. We must walk by faith. I’ve always loved the Bible verse found in 2 Corinthians 5:7, “For we walk by faith, not by sight. (NKJV‬‬). It’s human nature to depend on our senses. However as a believe in Jesus Christ, we must trust God in our everyday lives and decision making. Walking by faith is an active daily practice.

I hope this blog sheds some light on those you may encounter with visual limitations. Advocacy provides knowledge which can provide an understanding of how to be helpful to those around you. A good rule of thumb is to try putting yourself in the other persons shoes. What must it be like to live with their differences? Empathy goes a long way in blessing those around us.

Be blessed as you continue in your week.

Www.shannonkenleyhinson.com

September is Deaf Awareness Month

September 20, 2026Leave a Comment

Recently as I was scrolling through the Instagram platform, I saw that September is Deaf Awareness Month. I’ve been meaning to write on this topic. Why? Because awareness develops understanding and fostering understanding can break barriers.

Speaking from experience, I knew nothing about deaf culture or hard of hearing until I myself began to lose my hearing. It was around the age of 11-12 when my hearing started to decline, for some unknown reason. It was a gradual process and for that, I am thankful. There were no hearing impaired students in my school and I’d never seen sign language before I went to college. During high school I learned to lip read and had note takers in my classes. It was during freshman orientation at East Carolina University that I met my first deaf friends and learned the manual alphabet. Little did I know, that was the beginning of learning a second language: sign language. It was a breath of fresh air to finally be able to connect with others with hearing loss and learn sign language.

I did a little search on Google about deaf statistics. You can look this up as well but I’ll share a little of what I found. Did you know, 3.6% of the U.S. population consider themselves deaf or have significant difficulty hearing. (National Deaf Center) Around 1 in 7 Americans have some degree of hearing loss. (National Deaf Center) World wide there are over 300 sign language types with American Sign Language (ASL) being dominant in North America. (avantpage.com) ASL does not follow English word order, it is more conceptual. There is also Pidgin Sign English (PSE) and Signed Exact English (SEE). I personally learned PSE which is a blend of American Sign Language vocabulary with English sentence structure. This is my favorite because being born hearing, my first language was spoken English. I have deaf friends who love ASL which has much more concept. It’s like making a series of pictures with signs but doesn’t follow English word order.

That’s enough statistics for one post. I will say, a good reminder when you see deaf people and interact with them, deafness does not define who they are. Deaf and hard of hearing people are just like you, they just lack the ability to hear and comprehend speech. We are not “less than” anyone else. Nor do we need pity.

Empathy really goes a long way! What do I mean? Try putting yourself in another person’s shoes. Stick some ear plugs in your ears and see how far you can get in the day. You’re likely going to have trouble on the phone and may find FaceTime and texting easier. You will likely have great difficulty understanding the television. (I personally never watch it. With the combination of my hearing loss and low vision, it makes for a very frustrating activity to attempt reading closed captions on a tv screen.) Closed caption is great for those with hearing loss who can read. You might have difficulty communicating in public with the everyday people you encounter in stores, restaurants, schools, churches etc. Speaking of churches, in all the surrounding area of where I live outside of Charlotte NC, I only know of one church with sign language interpreters. ONE!!! That is a big problem that really needs to be addressed. Less than 2% of the world deaf population are followers of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. That makes the deaf one of the largest unreached and unengaged groups worldwide. https://gacx.io/articles/deaf-unreached-people Now think of all the mission groups that are sent every year world wide, which is wonderful, but hear me out, deaf people need to be engaged with learning the Gosspel as well. Me and my husband visited two churches in the area during the past year. Both are great churches where the Bible is clearly taught. Neither of them offer any services for the hearing impaired. It was a very frustrating time for me when trying to grasp some meaning. (Having low vision doesn’t help either. It makes seeing power points impossible.) I would leave those services discouraged not uplifted and equipted. I was raised in church and am very familiar with the Bible. My daily relationship with Jesus is of most importance to me. A couple of years ago I led a Bible study with my deaf friends. It was not easy because deaf people can have lower reading skills. That means they can have difficult with the Bible study book and reading the Bible itself. With the combination of my hearing limitation and low vision, I ended up memorizing the lessons so I could clearly help them understand. They were so hungry for the Word of God! There are a few key points to learn here. First off, if you have deaf children, it is vital that they learn to read so they can more easily interact in the world. Second, advocacy for resources for the hearing impaired is vital. Those who can hear can easily listen to sermons and worship songs that equip you for life. The deaf don’t have these luxuries. I’ve had people ask me why I don’t go to Sunday School at church. Well, that would require a translator so I could participate. It is also taxing on my eyes to watch signing at length, so one service is sufficient for me along with my personal study of the Bible . (When my deaf girlfriends have hours long talks and lunch, when I’m finally home, my eyes and mind are exhausted from watching signing for long lengths of time.) Just a little perspective.

Like I said easily, empathy goes A LONG WAY. Put yourself in someone else’s shoes and really think about what it would be like with their limitations. You’d be surprised that not many people take the time for such reflection. It’s mind blowing. Perspective!! I’ve discovered there are many reels on Instagram with deaf people teaching short signing lessons. Very short. It is a fun way to learn. The manual Alphabet is also an easy tool you can use to interact with hearing impaired people. You can finger spell words. You can also use your phone to type a short message and show them. (That personally doesn’t work for me because I can’t see the font on an iPhone but for most people, that works.). As you begin to understand the needs around you, you can make little attempts to show compassion. Today after church a sweet lady came up and introduced herself. She was learning some basic signs and made the effort to connect. That meant a lot. Compassion goes a long way.

I think I will wrap it up for now. It’s been well over a week since I’ve blogged. It may be the first week in over five years that I didn’t post a blog. The past week was busy. Hopefully I will stay consistent with sharing. I know this particular blog has been a bit different. Awareness brings understanding though. If it helps break a few barriers for the hearing impaired community, it’s well worth sharing. Have an amazing week.

Www.shannonkenleyhinson.com

The manual alphabet.
Image found on Pinterest.

What do you SEE?

September 3, 2026Leave a Comment

Recently on social medial I asked the following question: What do you see? I was born with my visual problem but it has worsened over time. Imagine spending most of your life thinking you were born with a birth defect to both your optic nerves, and according to doctors, I was. However, the doctor said it would not get worse. He said as I naturally aged they would be able to get it back to my “normal”. (I guess with glasses. ) His theory was wrong. The struggle is real. I haven’t been to the eye doctor in years because it’s a waste of my time. Other than five eyelid surgeries, they have never been able to help at all. (I discovered later that one procedure was not even appropriate.) I am a slow reader and the font has to be zoomed in large. I see some of the letters in a word but not all of them. I recognize people by shape, size and hair color. Lighting is important because it helps me to see whats there. It is a very odd thing and no doctor has ever tried to figure it out.

Last Sunday I went to Central Church with a good friend. Central is “home”. It’s where I can actively participate in worship and understand the message through a sign language interpreter. (Why other churches don’t offer this, I’ll never understand.). Yes, for those who might be reading my blog for the first time, I’m also hearing impaired. Back to my question…. I mentioned possibly blogging on the topic but also shared pieces of this to gleam some feedback. My friend was telling me the expressions on faces on the stage. We were sitting in the first pew. I can see Pastor but not his face details. She could “see” he is burdened for the church. Wow! I mean I’m sure he is but to be able to “see” it on his face. Wow! She could “see” that one of the guys playing an instrument was truly moved by the worship and was “holding back” tears. Oh to be able to “see” those precious things. I am thankful for the descriptions. I know hearing impaired people put more into reading facial expressions because it conveys true meaning. So if you can hear maybe you look for or “see” different things.

The feedback was interesting. Unless you see me read, you might never realize that I’m not seeing like you. It’s not obvious. Even people who know me well have a tendency to forget. I think the post made a few people appreciate things they take for granted. My cousin who suffered ocular seizures a while back shared one eye is fuzzy, but the other he can see expressions. Another friend said she can see the expressions and hear the emotion in voices. Another friend suggested I use live-streaming on my iPad while at church so I could take a quick look, zoomed in to see. (I’d never do that. Never want to be a distraction to others.) People were encouraging. One mentioned the spiritual “sight” of discernment. I praise God that He has given me that. I guess that brings us to another form of “seeing”.

Spiritual insight and discernment are also ways the Holy Spirit enables us to “see” and test what’s going on around us. I love to tune in to the Holy Spirit and seek His direction on whatever is at hand. I guess because I don’t hear it all and definitely don’t see it all, what I do “get”, I ponder. I’m a deep soul. I think deeply on things and often pray over them. I see people and their personalities at play. I see how we can “walk in the flesh” sometimes unintentionally. We have to ask the Lord to examine our hearts and our lives. We need to ask for forgiveness and make changes to walk surrendered to the Lord. When I notice conflicts, I see personalities and attitudes at play. I see how people approach and deal with issues. I sense spiritual elements at work behind situations. There is so much to see/discern and so much to cover in prayer.

I’ve come to notice that people have no clue what you’re going through. (And that is okay) I personally “stumbled” upon deep empathy years ago. As I was dealing with hearing and vision issues, I became way more sensitive to any need around me I also became sensitive to how people respond to those needs. People are so unique, each with their own story that has molded them into who they are. When you see conflicts, someone withdrawn, etc. think of the underlying issues that might be at work. This type of perspective can bring a healthy peaceful shift in situations. Just something to think about.

Well, that was a “deep dive” and it’s time to come back to the “surface”. I hope you all have a wonderful Labor Day weekend. Be mindful of differences and little things you can do for those around you. Be blessed and better yet, be a blessing!

Www.shannonkenleyhinson.com

The “Art” of Forgiving

July 26, 2025Leave a Comment

Oh boy! Talking about a hard thing! We ALL experience forgiveness and the need to extend it towards those who wrong us, usually on a daily basis. I see this in humanity, people I know and love, and see it’s a “God” thing. We need Gods help to truly forgive from the heart. As I was praying this morning I asked God to release me from the hurt caused by hurtful untrue things people say. I am always a forgiving person, but lets be honest, the hurt inflicted by people can weigh us down.

It’s kind of interesting, after I prayed this morning asking God to help me to forgive and let it go, including the hurt, He allowed me to see the verse of the day. “Make allowance for each other’s faults, and forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others.” Colossians‬ ‭3‬:‭13‬ ‭(NLT‬‬) Okay Lord, I’m listening! The thing is, forgiveness in itself is a choice and it’s not a hard choice to make when you want to live in peace. However, what in the world do you do with the disappointment and hurt? Looks like some Holy Spirit healing is needed.

Often times conversations and intentions are totally misunderstoood or taken out of context Other times people get so emotionally disillusioned they don’t see a situation clearly. I’ll throw in miscommunication when people simply don’t understand yet repeat something that didn’t happen. I will go as far as to say, ASL (American sign language) and spoken English are two very different languages.

As I have been reading through the Bible again this year, I love how it “sticks” to my mine. Proverbs talks about gossip and it is so true. “A troublemaker plants seeds of strife; gossip separates the best of friends.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭16‬:‭28‬ ‭(NLT)‬‬ This is so true. As I was praying this morning I said, “Lord humanity is such a mess! We are created to bring You glory yet the devil messes it up.“. Everyone, and I do mean everyone gossips sometimes. Some more than others. Just being honest here, There is a wealth of instruction for Godly living in the Bible. Let’s take it to heart and apply it to our lives. The world would be a whole lot more peaceful and joyful. Take for example the following verse from Psalm. “Then keep your tongue from speaking evil and your lips from telling lies!” Psalms‬ ‭34‬:‭13‬ ‭(NLT‬‬). In the book of James it really “hammers home” this point. “And among all the parts of the body, the tongue is a flame of fire. It is a whole world of wickedness, corrupting your entire body. It can set your whole life on fire, for it is set on fire by hell itself.” James‬ ‭3‬:‭6‬ ‭(NLT‬‬)

The Bible is FULL of wise counsel on how to live in this fallen world. It directs us in how to navigate life. As I shared with the homeless during devotions last Wednesday on how powerful God’s Word is, I old them it’s like a map for life. It’s God’s loving instructions to us to get us through this journey. It would be wise to read it and apply it to our lives. We had 9 Bibles to give away last Wednesday. I told them as they lined up to get physical food, to also take a Bible for spiritual food. Eight people took a Bible! Praise God!

Life is messy. From most standards I lead a boring life but yet as I read God’s Word and see life unfold around me, it is messy. I see people with struggling marriages. I see people trying to make it look like their life is perfect, when it’s an illusion. I see people trying to truly forgive people for things done to them decades ago, they say they have forgiven but still refuse to talk to those who wronged them. Then there are those homeless and living in shelters for various reasons, trying to make life work. Just looking at the whole isssue called LIFE, it’s MESSY. It is vital we seek God at every step. The devil is active to stir up trouble BUT Jesus overcomes it all. It’s also wise to be careful about your circle of friends and support group. You need others who will speak life and encouragement into your life not critism. Think before you speak, and yes I am speaking to myself as well.

When I saw the verse of the day, there was a video devotion that went with it. The devotion. tied forgiveness and empathy together. I love empathy! Being able to put yourself inside someone else’s shoes. Try it! It will change your perspective if you attempt to see things from someone else’s situation. A world of wisdom there. I think I will stop here. We can’t change people but we can change how we respond to them and we can creat boundaries to avoid some of people’s chaos. Lord help us respond well and in a merciful gracious way that brings You glory.

Have an amazing weekend. Be blessed and better yet, be a blessing!

http://www.shannonkhinson.com

Through another’s eyes 👁👁

August 3, 20225 Comments

Life lies in the eyes of the beholder. How you see the world is influenced by your circumstances, attitudes, abilities, short comings and beliefs. Human nature is so complex. Peoples approaches and reactions to life are even more complex.

I love when people share their life struggles. To listen to peoples hearts is such a privilege. Having hearing and visual issues brings extra hurdles but one on one, I’m usually fine.

It’s refreshing when people take the time to really listen. Most people are so wrapped up in themselves these days that they don’t have time. When listening to others I try to see things through their eyes. I see the personalities and the way they engage in situations. It’s a marvel and perplexing at the same time. One thing I try to do is see things through their eyes or in other words through their perspective. Truly understanding one another is a gift. It takes compassion and grace. It takes empathy. It’s the acceptance that life is not all about you and yours but others as well. People matter. Look around and be willing to share life with others.

I know dealing with people can be challenging. I will admit to a lot of eye rolling. The person might not see it but I’m reminded that God does. Many times I have to pray for grace. Lord help me to show grace and mercy as you always shower them on me. It’s about finding balance. It’s a give and take. The best gift is to give of your heart. Take time to lift up those who need encouragement. Make time to celebrate others blessings.

I don’t know what your week has been like but we are half way through it. We are at a midpoint. Let’s really look around us and see what we can do for one another. People are precious…. All people. Make the time to listen and care. You will be so glad you did.

My website is still down. Thankfully I have the files but am waiting for a friend to show me how to transfer them to a new site. I’m hoping to combine my website and blog together. It is coming along just rather slowly. In the meantime if you’d like to check out my book “Rooted by the Water” you can find it on Amazon in hard over, soft cover and e book formats. Thank you for journeying with me. Please subscribe to my blog and share it with others. Blessing to you all.