President's Message

President's Message

I first became involved with the JAD at the beginning of the 1960’s, and served in a variety of capacities until 2003.  One can therefore imagine that I have seen untold numbers of happenings over that period of time; and in these few words, I will share with you the ones that readily come to mind as being significant landmarks.

Firstly, of course, was the JAD’s ability to expand the number of schools that we operate. Starting with St. Christopher’s in 1939, we now operate a number of schools, unit classes, and training programmes in Kingston and several rural parishes, with a total population of 372 students.

With more schools and more students, there came the need for more teachers trained to deal with the challenges of deafness in the classroom. In the early days, teachers were trained in England.   Eventually, we were able to persuade the University of the West Indies to create a special programme to train and certify teachers of the Deaf; and subsequently, we have been advocating for the Ministry of Education to provide a special classification for persons holding this qualification.

Then there was the unending search for the best way to impart knowledge to deaf students.  We started with Oralism, which proved unworkable.  Other attempts were also adopted.  It took us a long time to realize that it took a variety of techniques to achieve the desired results, and the vital importance of recognizing and using the natural language of the Deaf – Jamaican Sign Language (JSL).  In simple terms, we found that whatever it took, whatever parts of the various techniques worked, could be melded into a composite approach, which can now be best described as a Bilingual Approach to Deaf Education.

The outside observer still regards the JAD as primarily the provider of schools for deaf students; but much of the work that has been accomplished over the past 70 years has occurred and is still taking place outside our classrooms. 

I can think of several:

    * Enabling hard of hearing students to attend hearing schools with the appropriate support.

    * Establishing deaf school-leavers classes in a variety of life-skills to better equip them with job skills.

     * Involving parents in the process of their children’s education; and teaching them Sign Language so that they can better communicate at home.

     * Providing hearing aids at affordable prices and the facility to have them repaired by technicians trained and employed to the JAD

     * We are also now able to provide specialized testing for hearing loss.
 
    * Many years ago, the JAD was able to convince the Ministry of Health to immunize all female students against Rubella, a complaint which often led to the offspring of the affected mother being born with a hearing loss.  This initiative reduced the number of children being born deaf and consequently, reduced the need to provide more schools, more teachers, and even more services.

These are but a few of the JAD’s achievements.  The fact is, whatever has been achieved in the past 70 years will need refining and adapting to the variety of challenges that still face us.  My many thanks to those who have served so willingly and ably in the past and at present, in a multiplicity of endeavors.  

In closing, I will, as ever, want to say a special thank you to the classroom teachers - overworked, underpaid, constantly challenged.  Because without you, much of what has gone before, and much of what will need to be done in the years to come, would not have been and will not be possible.
 
 

Herbert Hall

President

Jamaica Association for the Deaf