Like four of his brothers, James Williams was born deaf. The family did not know sign language and growing up, there weren’t many resources available to help them during their early school years. Communication has therefore been the biggest challenge for James, now 36.
With roots in Bartica, Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni), James said he comes from a big family with eight siblings – three sisters and five brothers.
“We tried as best as we could to communicate whatever we wanted to say and figure out what others were trying to tell us through homemade and self-taught sign language,” James recalled, adding, “We did a lot of lip reading, and some things were basic common sense.”
Despite the challenges, though, he told the News Room in an interview on Saturday that he is a “proud deaf Guyanese” who has been working as a teacher’s assistant at the David Rose Special School in Georgetown for the past seven years.
As a teacher aide, James spends his time assisting students with their language development and interpreting or explaining lesson concepts in sign language. He also enjoys using his training to advocate for, encourage and inspire those in the deaf community.
James is grateful that a lot of improvements have been made to support those who are deaf. Schools, he noted, now have teachers who are learning and using the correct sign language to teach learners who are deaf. “I know of teacher aides like myself who are deaf and are able to relate to children who are deaf,” he shared.
There is also the Deaf Association of Guyana (DAG) that helps to organise different activities for the deaf community. The Cyril Potter College of Education enrolled him and two other deaf teachers to receive the necessary training and qualifications to function better in the classroom.
James believes that more can be done in mainstream schools for the deaf such as having interpreters or teachers who are trained in sign language and deaf education. He opined that this will make it possible to enroll children who are deaf in mainstream schools for better and higher education which is not offered in special needs schools.
“I always encourage my friends who are deaf to keep working on improving themselves for the better, whether it is through education or whatever jobs or career they are in already,” he expressed.
James also attended a prestigious conference recently, which helped to expand his network.
James said he was honored to have the opportunity to be one of four deaf Guyanese invited to attend the SIGN10 training and conference in Trinidad and Tobago that was hosted by the Centre of Language Learning (CLL) at the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Campus in collaboration with the University of Trinidad and Tobago.
The training and conference, which took place earlier this month, fostered the diversity of deafness, sign languages, linguistic research, and advocacy for deaf populations through presentations and posters from Caribbean and international scholars on a global scale.
“As a deaf educator and interpreter myself, I am committed to ensure that deaf populations in Guyana continue to have full access to education; that communication is equitable through sign language(s), and that I can advocate for my deaf students and deaf community,” he said.
