An Adventist school teacher has been awarded the Adventist Accessibility Scholarship (AAS) for her dedication to enhancing accessibility within the church and community.

Jenaya Lewis, a teacher at Noosa Christian College in Queensland, received the scholarship to complete Certificate III in Auslan with Deaf Connect. 

AAS is an initiative of Christian Services for the Blind and Hearing Impaired (CSFBHI), a ministry of Adventist Media in Wahroonga, New South Wales. Formerly called Personal Pursuit and Empowerment Scholarship, AAS received a new name and revised aim in 2023—to financially support individuals dedicated to contributing to the lives of those who are Deaf or have vision or hearing loss, which affects their access to the Adventist community programs and resources.

“We believe scholarship recipients can help create an Adventist church that is more accessible and inclusive,” said Coralie Schofield, CSFBHI coordinator. “We would love to see an increase in what we can currently offer, and partnering with scholarship recipients is one way to do this,” she added.

Lewis is the first recipient of the updated scholarship. She has been interested in communicating with the Deaf community since a young age. She learned sign language from her father, who used to offer support at Deaf Camps—a significant part of the Deaf community in Australia during the 1990s.

While studying teaching at Avondale University, Lewis was co-leader of a Life Group, teaching basic Australian Sign Language (Auslan) to empower the church community to connect with the Deaf community. Now living and working in Queensland, she collaborated with CSFBHI to facilitate Auslan workshops for the first time at the South Queensland Conference Big Camp in October 2023. She also interpreted some of the programs for Deaf attendees. 

Lewis’ intention in the near future is to restart Deaf camps, particularly for children. “I would love to restart that to help people, but also because it would be a great outreach opportunity for our church,” she said.

According to DOOR International, the Deaf are the largest unreached group of people in the world. Wayne Boehm, Adventist Media Discovery Centre manager, attributes the statistics to the Deaf community being an often-forgotten area of ministry. “People struggle with hearing issues at all ages, which significantly impacts an individual’s ability to hear the Word of God,” Boehm said. 

In Australia, it is estimated that one in six people experience some degree in hearing loss and 357,000 people are blind or have low vision. By offering the accessibility scholarship, CSFBHI hopes to encourage more church members to create better access to Adventist resources and programs for the Deaf or those with vision or hearing loss.

“The latest scholarship recipient received support for learning sign language. But other examples might include accessibility design for websites or printed materials, or perhaps learning how to convert text to braille or even how to create and narrate audiobooks,” Schofield said.

The original article was published by the South Pacific Division news site, Adventist Record.