Certified but still not enabled

The training provided by the Rural Agricultural Development Authority (RADA) to 21 deaf people from the Jamaica Deaf Village and the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf in Knockpatrick, Manchester over 10 weeks has added significantly to their farming expertise and they are excited about the potential new job opportunities it will provide.

“This training has helped me to improve a lot. Of course I know about farming before, yes, but now I know more about how to control pests and make sure that the plants are not destroyed and how to feed water to the irrigation system. I learned that farming has a lot of benefits, including how to sell and collect money for ourselves,” Jerome Pindling told The Gleaner following the recent graduation. He and Kimberly Simpson, of the Caribbean Christian Centre for the Deaf, were the most outstanding male and female graduates of the Climate Smart Agriculture Greenhouse Production Training at the Knockpatrick campus.

Speaking through interpreter Talia Shaw, who teaches information technology at the centre, Pindling said that following the training, he was much more motivated and anxious to learn.

“I have more experience and am now able to increase my knowledge,” he boasted. “So I am really thankful for this programme and believe that my experience in greenhouse training will help me to secure a good job in the future.”

Simpson, who is much more confident with the skills learned, aims to continue in farming for the time being, but has her eyes set on expanding her knowledge at the Portland-based College of Agriculture, Science and Education. However, she does not have the money to do so, but remains hopeful that she will someday be able to get that elusive scholarship in order to pursue her goal.

“Many people do not believe in the deaf as it relates to investing in them, but having a certificate, that will also help us to get through more easily because this certificate is additional proof that we can function well in the mainstream,” Simpson added.

Meanwhile, Pindling believes that if more Jamaicans learned sign language it would go a far way in making socialising for and with the deaf easier.

He explained, “I communicate with texting, yes, but some persons when you text maybe they can’t read and that will actually destroy the communication which kinda forces you to use body language and disrupts the whole communication.”

Simpson is adamant that most Jamaicans don’t believe in the deaf and some are actually condescending in their efforts to offer assistance.

“They will say things like, ‘Oh, you are deaf’’ and they will ask, ‘Why don’t you use your hearing aid?’ And I am like ‘Because I can sign’,” she declared with much frustration.

Everyday tasks such as travelling to work, which hearing people take for granted, can prove very difficult for the deaf. Simpson lives on campus at the centre so she doesn’t travel much outside her immediate community. Pindling, who travels daily to the Jamaica Deaf Village for work, as well as to Montego Bay in St James and Kingston, has developed coping strategies.

“I just read and figure out where the cars are going and ask someone by texting on my phone and show them and then ask them to drop me at a specific place and that works for me.”

A frustrated Pindling is particularly angry at hearing persons who look down on him because of his deafness and came up with the following analogy.

“Just like how the fish is in the sea, you can’t put a fish on the land and expect it to survive. So it’s the same for the deaf. You need to be accommodating to ensure that you can communicate with us. The deaf culture is different from the hearing culture. Hearing persons can talk on the phone, yes but the deaf has to use video calls, video conferencing, so there are different ways of communicating but it is the same concept. So we don’t want hearing people being negative, we want them to be side and side with us,” he appealed.

editorial@gleanerjm.com