İşitme ve Görme Engellilere Yönelik Yaygın Din Eğitimi Hizmetlerine Katılanların Problem ve Beklentileri (İstanbul Örneği)
Banu Gürer, Elif KayaEngellilik hem engelli bireyler hem de aileleri açısından anlamlandırma ve başa çıkma güçlükleri içeren bir durum ve süreçtir. Söz konusu durumu anlamlandırmak ve süreçle başa çıkmak için kullanılan referanslar arasında dinin önemli bir yer tuttuğunu söylemek mümkündür. Çünkü din, insanların içinde bulunduğu durumu anlamlandırmasına yönelik verdiği cevaplara bağlı olarak, bu durumla başa çıkabilmeleri için gerekli manevi güç ihtiyacını karşılayan bir kaynaktır. Dinin bu işlevini hayata geçiren temel unsurlardan biri de din eğitimidir. Türkiye’de engellilere yönelik yaygın din eğitimi faaliyetleri düzenleyen başlıca kurum Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı’dır. Bu çalışmada Diyanet İşleri Başkanlığı bünyesindeki Kur’an kurslarında engelli bireylere yönelik olarak verilen yaygın din eğitimine devam eden işitme ve görme engelli bireylerin sorun ve beklentilerinin anlaşılması amaçlanmaktadır. Araştırma fenomenolojik bir desenle yapılandırılmıştır. Verilerin elde edilmesinde yarı yapılandırılmış sorulardan oluşan görüşme/ mülakat tekniği kullanılmıştır. Görüşmelere 15 işitme engelli ve 15 görme engelli olmak üzere 30 kişi katılmıştır. Veriler betimsel analiz ve içerik analizi teknikleri ile incelenmiştir. Araştırmanın sonuçları, katılımcıların din eğitimi kaynaklarını, engellilikle başa çıkma durumları ve dinin etkisi, din eğitimi ihtiyaçları ve bu ihtiyaçlar doğrultusunda yaygın din eğitimi aldıkları Kur’an kurslarından beklentileri olmak üzere dört boyutta değerlendirilecektir.
Opinions, Problems, and Expectations of Participants in Informal Religious Education Services for Hearing- and Visually-impaired People
Banu Gürer, Elif KayaDisability is a situation and process that includes difficulties in rationalizing and coping with it on the part of individuals with disabilities and their families. It can be said that religion has an important place among the ways used to make sense of the situation in question and to cope with the process. This is because religion is a resource that can provide the spiritual strength needed for people to cope with the situation they are in, by giving answers to people to make sense of the situation they are in. One of the basic elements that bring this function of religion to life is religious education. The main institution that organizes informal religious education activities for people with disabilities in Turkey is the Presidency of Religious Affairs. This study aims to understand the problems and expectations of hearing- and visuallyimpaired individuals who take part in the informal religious education given to people with disabilities in the Qur’an courses in the Presidency of Religious Affairs. The research is structured with a phenomenological pattern. Interviews consisting of semi-structured questions were used to obtain the data. Thirty people, 15 of whom were hearing impaired and 15 visually impaired, participated in the interviews. The data were analyzed with descriptive analysis and content analysis techniques. The results of the research were evaluated in four dimensions: the sources of the religious education of the participants, their coping with disability and the effect of religion, their religious education needs, and their expectations from the Qur’an courses in which they receive non-formal religious education in line with these needs.
Disability, which is seen to have different definitions due to its many forms and the debates on its determination, refers to an impairment that prevents the fulfillment of the roles that should be performed depending on age, gender, and social and cultural factors for various reasons that occur before, during or after birth.
The relationship between religious education and disability can be considered in two ways. First, religious education is evaluated as an element that supports individuals with disabilities and their families in the context of religious coping. The second dimension of the relationship between disability and religious education is the acquisition of basic religious knowledge by individuals with disabilities to fulfill their religious obligations, especially their worship.
Formal religious education for people with disabilities can take place in special education schools in addition to ensuring the educational and social integration of students with disabilities with students without disabilities, in inclusive classrooms where they are educated and trained together, starting from the fourth grade of primary school to high school. It takes place in the curriculum (with courses on Religious Culture and Moral Knowledge, the Qur’an, the Life of the Prophet Muhammad, and Basic Religious Knowledge) until the students’ graduation. Informal religious education is given in mosques and educational institutions belonging to various non-governmental organizations, besides the Qur’an courses run within the Presidency of Religious Affairs.
The Directorate of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) is one of the leading institutions providing informal religious education in Turkey. Education for people with disabilities is given by the Presidency of Religious Affairs within the scope of a general curriculum that takes into account the various groups within the framework of the Need-Focused Qur’an Courses Curriculum.3 In the program in question, there are fields such as akaid, catechism, tafsir, hadith, and siyer. Since there is no Quran course curriculum for visually impaired individuals, it can be said that Need-Based Quran Lessons Curriculum is based on these courses. However, there is also the Special Education Program of the Qur’an Courses for the Hearing Impaired. The program consists of two main courses, namely the Qur’an and Religious Studies. The Qur’an course is planned as a course to read the Qur’an, to memorize some surahs and to learn about its history. The Religious Studies course includes the subjects of faith, worship, sirah, and morality.
The research was structured with a phenomenological design. An interview technique consisting of semistructured questions was used to obtain the data. The sample included students selected by snowball sampling within the scope of the purposive sampling method among students attending Qur’an courses in two districts of Üsküdar, Bahçelievler, Küçükçekmece, and Bağcılar. Between September and December 2022, 30 people, 15 hearing-impaired and 15 visually-impaired individuals (5 men and 10 women in each group), participated in the face-to-face interviews.
In the study, one-third of the participants stated that they had not received religious education before the Qur’an course, and it was determined that the family was the primary source of religious education for those participants who stated that they had received religious education. It is possible to state that schools and institutions have taken second place. It is noteworthy at this point that visually-impaired individuals have more opportunities to receive religious education than hearing-impaired individuals. The main reason for this could be that communicating with a hearing-impaired individual requires more equipment than with visually-impaired individuals.
The coping status of the participants with a disability varies depending primarily on whether the disability is congenital or not. Accordingly, it has been observed that individuals who are disabled from birth or a very young age do not experience the problem of accepting their disability because they do not have a different experience. However, if there are communication problems with their family and the environment, or if the attitudes of their family and the environment toward the disability are not constructive and supportive, individuals with disabilities from birth or a young age may question their disability.
It is possible to say that religion and family are among the important sources of support in the process of coping with disability, and some participants stated that the Qur’an courses they received also provided support for them.
In terms of coping with disability, it was understood that a significant number of the participants evaluated their disability as a motivating factor for self-improvement and thought that their situation was effective in developing empathy and sensitivity. However, it is seen that the supportive effect of the family and the environment plays an important role in the establishment of this perception and motivation.
It has been determined that the participants in the research felt the need for religious education within the framework of the disability process and situation. It is seen that the need in question is felt in terms of making sense of life and disability within the framework of the belief in God and destiny, finding spiritual support, and fulfilling worship and religious obligations by improving their knowledge about religion. This situation shows that the meaning of the relationship between disability and religious education and the dimensions of religious practices should be taken into account as a whole when preparing programs for people with disabilities. When we look at the fields of knowledge needed in religious education, it is seen that the desire and need to learn to read the Qur’an is in the first place, followed by the history of the prophets, especially in the context of worship, and the need for information in various fields related to catechism and religion.
According to this study, it is understood that the first information the participants found about the Qur’an for disabled people was generally obtained through friends and acquaintances, and on this occasion, they were informed about the courses. It is seen that promotional elements such as brochures are mostly accessed by the participants in formal education institutions, and a limited number of participants are aware of social media platforms.
It has been determined that the participants do not have communication and approach problems with the educators in the context of the institution employees, and the educators have an empathetic, helpful, and supportive attitude. This finding can be evaluated as a positive result in terms of the efficiency of in-service training. However, although there is no general opinion, some warnings from the participants that educators should not treat themselves as mentally disabled are important for educators to pay attention to their approach. As far as communication within the institution is concerned, the relationships of students with each other can be a problem, another point that requires attention and consideration in terms of environmental effects.
It has been determined that the number of participants who think that the education they receive from the Qur’an courses is most helpful in terms of teaching reading the Qur’an is quite high. In addition, some participants stated that it helps to get information in the different fields related to religion. The evaluations that the said training helps the participants not only in terms of their knowledge but also in terms of socialization and self-confidence suggest that it is important and necessary to support the inclusion of activities in the Qur’an courses for disabled individuals’ participation in life. It is seen within the scope of current research and different studies that one of the most important expectations of people with disabilities is that they are not excluded from life because of their disabilities that they see and show that there are things they can achieve despite their disabilities.
In learning the Qur’an, memorization and belief principles stand out among the subjects that the participants had difficulty with in the process of religious education. In addition, different problems that the participants had during the education process, such as not being able to socialize, lack of resources and materials, and not being able to repeat the subject of the course, were also mentioned.
It is seen that the main demand that stands out among the practices and expectations that the participants want to be developed and supported in the courses is to eliminate the material deficiencies. To meet this need, the publication of translations of the Qur’an, catechisms, and publications of the Diyanet, written or voiced in the Braille alphabet, especially by visually-impaired participants is recommended. It is also expected that audio course books will be created and recorder support will be provided. Participants want course materials and catechisms to be written in a way they can understand. The dissemination of the courses was also expressed as a common demand of the hearingimpaired participants.
