The Hearing Awareness Campaign 2008-9

Without timely and appropriate intervention, hearing loss can interfere with a child’s ability to communicate.  This will result in a delay in the child’s ability to understand and use language, which can lead to illiteracy and poor development of important social and life skills.

This was the main theme at the recent official launch of the Jamaica Association for the Deaf’s Hearing Awareness public education campaign, held on Thursday, April 24, at the Pollyanna Restaurant in Kingston.

Deaf adults participated in the event with presentations on the importance of teaching deaf children using a bilingual and bicultural approach.  This approach assumes that a Sign Language should be the first language of deaf children and that English should be taught as a second language through a fully accessible signed language, in our case Jamaican Sign Language (JSL).  The ultimate goal is proficiency in both  JSL and written English, as well as ease of socialization in both deaf and hearing cultures.  Both languages and cultures are given equal value and prominence.