Dinner Table Syndrome

March 16, 2026

story

Imagine this: it’s Thanksgiving Day. You’re sitting at the table for a big family gathering. Dishes are clattering, mouths are full of stuffing, and everyone is talking. You want to join in, but no one talks to you. Most of them won’t even look at you. The music, the jokes, and the laughter they’re sharing is something you’re on the outside of. And so, before dinner is over, you move to a corner to sit by yourself. Alone.

This is the reality for most deaf and hard of hearing teens.

Holidays can be isolating for deaf kids. Most of their families don’t know sign language, so social gatherings are lonely. That’s one reason Deaf Teen Quest is intentional about getting students together for the holidays.

Over Thanksgiving break, DTQ had the opportunity to take students on a trip to an Amish farm. During the visit, students rode in an Amish buggy, met the horses, and enjoyed delicious homemade cookies. After the trip was over, the group went to a volunteer’s house to build a campfire and roast s’mores. Tycen, a deaf volunteer, has been building relationships with the students at DTQ. As the smell of campfire smoke curled into the darkening sky, Tycen shared his testimony. One of the students listening was Nathan.

Nathan is a stubborn kid. It took years before he would talk to anyone at DTQ. Most days he stood off to the side, watching students play games but never getting involved. Still, he kept coming.

When Tycen shared his story, Nathan paid attention. “This is someone like me,” he thought. A deaf man who grew up with all of the challenges and trials that Nathan now faces.

“Tycen’s story is like most of the deaf kids we see: isolation, addiction, vulnerability, depression,” DTQ leader Paul says. “Having him on our team is such an encouragement. He was so far from God as a kid, but Christ changed everything.” Paul asked Tycen, “What was it about Jesus finally clicked for you?” Tycen said it was the story of Jesus healing the paralyzed man. The man’s friends brought him before Jesus against all odds, and Jesus paused what he was doing. He looked him in the eye. “I saw myself in that scene,” Tycen said. “Jesus paused for me.”

Nathan, like most of the other DTQ kids, is drawn to Tycen. Here is someone who has faced the same challenges as him and yet has overcome. Hearing Tycen’s story helped Nathan understand that he is not alone. Just like the paralyzed man, Jesus sees him.

DTQ gives deaf teens more than community: it gives them hope, and an example to live by.

Reaching Deaf Teens for Christ

At Deaf Teen Quest, we create an environment for deaf and hard of hearing students to find community and learn about Jesus. It can be isolating to be the only deaf teen in your family or school, but DTQ provides a place where teens know God sees them, and He has a plan for their lives. Click here to learn more about Deaf Teen Quest!

How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone preaching? Romans 10:14