THROUGH hard work and dedication, members of Jamaica’s deaf population are making their mark, particularly in careers that require the use of the sense of sight, which is enhanced because of their hearing loss.

One such person is Kemar Groves, an ambitious 24-year-old who is a deaf culture facilitator/technical assistant at the Jamaica Association for the Deaf. Having lost most of his hearing at age three following a bout of fever, Groves has proven himself to be very adept at computer repair and installation, and has become a proficient videographer and editor since joining the association in 2005.

“I took basic computer classes in high school but I learned video editing by doing research on the Internet at sites such as YouTube. I also learned from a friend who has more experience in this area,” Groves told Career & Education through sign language interpreter Antoinette Aiken.

A few short courses at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts, as well as practice fixing his friends’ computers has honed Groves’ skills over the years.

His job entails tasks such as shooting and editing videos with samples of sign language for teachers and students, downloading sign language videos from the Internet, and setting up DVDs for training workshops.

Groves wants to further his career in the field of IT, and would like to become a movie editor in the future, perhaps making films targeting the deaf community in particular.

His progress is no surprise to Jamaica Association for the Deaf public relations officer Marcia Anderson who says deaf people are particularly skilled with their hands.

“Anything that requires dexterity like computers and IT, they are great at that. They are also good with figures and also general manual work,” Anderson said of deaf and hard-of-hearing people, who are estimated to make up at least one per cent or 27,000 of Jamaica’s population.

However, jobs such as telephone operators, cashiers and bus drivers are not for the deaf as they require verbal communication.

Groves also works as a tutor of sign language to the parents of deaf children to enable them to communicate better with their children. He also plays the role of public educator for the Jamaica Association for the Deaf, which involves making presentations about his experience as a deaf person, and improving the public’s understanding of members of the community.

The Jamaica Association for the Deaf is focusing on the bilingual approach to teaching, in which deaf children are taught both sign language and English, to improve how they communicate, said Anderson.

Meanwhile Groves is enjoying his job which he has no problems doing.

“I use my sight for editing. If I had to work with video with a voice, I would ask a hearing person to listen if the voice matches the picture,” he noted.

Groves attended Excelsior Primary School where there is an integrated unit class for deaf and hearing people, before moving to the Lister Mair Gilby High School in Papine, St Andrew — the only specialist secondary school for the deaf in Jamaica.

Opportunities for higher education are limited for the deaf community because at universities and colleges they would need sign language interpreters in classes attended by the deaf.

“We are lobbying for the educational institutions to put allocations in their budgets for interpreters,” Anderson said.

Only a few Jamaicans have been able to study at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC or Rochester Institute of Technology in New York — all of them institutions that cater specifically to deaf students.

There is also stigma and misconception about the deaf and hard-of-hearing that need to be changed, Groves said, like the use of the word ‘dumb’ to describe them.

“When hearing people call deaf people ‘dumb’, it’s similar to white people calling black people ‘nigger’,” he explained.

The terms deaf or hard of hearing are acceptable, unlike the labels ‘dumb’ or ‘hearingimpaired’.

“Hearing-impaired suggests the person’s hearing can be fixed. The person could have been born deaf. I am hard of hearing but I also consider myself deaf,” Groves told Career & Education.

A recent newspaper report of a court case describing a deaf person as ‘deaf and dumb’ was disturbing to the deaf community.

“When I hear the term ‘dumb’, I get very upset,” he added.