SOME members of the deaf community are being equipped to gain meaningful employment through skills training on offer by the Jamaica Association for the Deaf (JAD).

Andrea Livingston-Prince , director of business at JAD, said one of the organisation’s prime goals is to develop craftsmanship using the creativity of the deaf and hard of hearing people. She explained that one practical example is the employment of such people in the organisation’s bindery as well as the training process each individual goes through.

“Almost everyone in the production unit is trained on a professional level and their skills are developed by professional academics in the field of book binding in the United Kingdom and the United States. We also try to have refresher courses and ones scheduled for the summer, because we believe in professional training,” she told the Jamaica Observer.

Livingston-Prince further added that the JAD Binders was developed as a centre that would provide vocational training in a profession that would maximise the fine-motor dexterity and visual acuity of people who are deaf or hard of hearing, while offering an avenue for artistic expression.

Denise Reid, public relations officer at JAD, explained that with regards to the mantra of the bindery, the organisation is moving to expand the training programme to that of an apprenticeship.

“As a result the idea is to receive more participation from corporate Jamaica that will help us to implement an apprenticeship programme where the deaf can be trained, after three months elevated to apprentices and depending on their growth they become full-time employees,” Reid said.

Desmond Senior, one of the employees and also the first deaf person to graduate from Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts said the bindery is a useful place and provides an opportunity for his colleagues to utilise their skills.

“I’m an artiste and I restore books and create many of the items in the bindery. Many people believe we are useless because we can’t hear, but we can learn just the same and integrated into society just the same,” he said.

Currently, the bindery employs six people and offers a variety of services which include bookbinding, using decorative endpapers and headbands, foil stamping of titles and tooling pattern on book faces and spine, and restoration of old books in paper, buckram, bookcloth or leather.

Additionally, specially designed and custom-made accessories such as pamphlets, book boxes, albums, portfolios, gift and card boxes, deskpads and blotters and business card holders are also manufactured at the facility. The bindery also produces memorabilia in the form of books and token for special occasions such as weddings, family gatherings, presentations, anniversaries, funerals and graduations.