David G. Cannon knows how to talk to people – in different ways. As chaplain for the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind (AIDB) in Talladega, Cannon has been perfecting his communication skills with deaf and blind students.
About 400 students attend the schools (Alabama School for the Deaf, Alabama School for the Blind and Helen Keller School of Alabama). Buddy Burgess, who worked for the institute and the North American Mission Board (NAMB), was the previous chaplain and pastor at an area church.
“When (Burgess) left, the institute decided to have a full-time chaplain to work just for the institute,” Cannon said.
Since most of the students live on campus, Cannon said he has plenty of opportunity to spend time with them. He holds four services on Sunday – two in the morning, one in the afternoon and one at night.
Monday nights, Cannon meets with the Alabama School for the Blind, and spends Thursday nights at the Helen Keller School.
Cannon said adapting to the students’ different forms of communication is challenging. “The method of presentation is totally different with each group,” he said.
Deaf students require a “completely visual program, with Cannon switching to “an oral environment” for blind students and employing a combination of techniques for those at Helen Keller.
The AIDB Chapel Program also serves adults at E.H. Gentry Technical Facility and employees of Alabama Industries for the Blind.
While at Lee University in Cleveland, Tenn., Cannon majored in intercultural studies, the school’s version of a missions program, and minored in Bible. Cannon has a background working in southern Baptist settings, especially with deaf youth.
He also served in the disabilities services office as a staff interpreter at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville.
His latest job as manager for an Internet company in Greenwood, S.C., helped inspire the idea to make a Web site featuring the AIDB chaplain program and Hawkins Chapel (www.hawkinschapel.org), the site of all the services he leads in Talladega. The site is still under construction, but Cannon said it is already being used to register students for camps throughout the year.
The AIDB Foundation recently kicked off a fund-raising campaign Cannon said the goal is to provide “ongoing support” for spiritual programs for students. While the institute provides funds for Cannon’s salary, money for programs has to be raised through the foundation.
The new campaign allows churches or individuals to sponsor students for $150 to help pay for music, food, camps or retreats. So far, most of the retreats are geared to the deaf students, but Cannon said he hopes to change that.
A retreat in March and a weeklong camp during the summer at Shocco Springs Baptist Conference Center are already designed for deaf students. About 250 of the 400 students at AIDB are deaf.
Cannon said he spends a lot of time talking with individual students. He tries to go to basketball games and eats in the cafeteria with students. He also provides counseling to students.
Living away from parents can be tough, Cannon said. And, because some are blind or deaf, the communication barrier between parents and children is greater. “We do a lot of one on one,” he said.
Lisa Frey, Cannon’s assistant, raises her own support to work with the students. “She’s my right-hand woman,” Cannon said. “She helps me with everything.”
Frey, who graduated from the University of Montevallo in December 1998 with a degree in deaf education, helps on Sundays by teaching Sunday School and leading the praise and worship time at chapel services.
She has been working with the deaf for many years. Her grandmother is deaf, and several family members are involved in the deaf community – her mother teaches the deaf in Georgia, and an aunt, uncle and three cousins are interpreters. A Phenix City native, Frey has been working with the chaplain program for 11 months.
Share with others: