Sign language club signals step to grow membership from 5 to 14 parishes
Published:Saturday | August 23, 2025 | 12:06 AMOlivia Brown/Gleaner Writer
Founded just three years ago, Sign Clubs of Jamaica has been steadily carving out a space for deaf culture and advocacy in schools and communities across the island. What began as a student-led effort to connect sign language clubs, has now grown into a national association, with members in five parishes and ambitions to expand into all 14.
According to founder and executive director, Zantaye Thomas, the idea was born out of her high school experience.
“When I became president of my school’s sign language club, I noticed there was limited interschool collaboration and advocacy,” Thomas told The Gleaner.
“That realisation inspired me to establish Sign Clubs of Jamaica. My primary goal was to raise awareness of deaf culture within schools and social media spaces, and to dismantle stereotypes about the community.”
Thomas, the 2025 Miss Clarendon Festival Queen first runner-up, incorporated sign language into her journey by delivering her introduction in sign.
She told The Gleaner that another key aim was to inspire more young people to consider careers as Jamaican Sign Language (JSL) interpreters, especially given the shortage in the country.
For Adien-Neil McLeod, a student at the University of Technology and the first deaf member of the executive body, the mission is deeply personal. He stressed that JSL was not merely a tool for communication, but the very essence of how deaf people connect and understand the world.
“It’s our first language – the way we express ourselves, build relationships, and see the world,” he said. Including sign language more fully in society, he argued, would help bridge gaps in education, healthcare, and employment.
“At the end of the day, we are just as human as anyone else, and real inclusion means making space for our language and culture too,” McLeod expressed to The Gleaner via text.
Akeeliah Wiggins, vice-president and Glenmuir High School student, posits that sign language deserves to stand shoulder to shoulder with spoken English and Jamaican Creole. She told The Gleaner that, to achieve true integration, “sign language must move beyond being treated as optional or niche – it needs to be seen, heard, and felt in the heart of our society”.
Wiggins painted a vision of every Jamaican child learning basic sign language from early childhood, with interpreters at all national events, and deaf Jamaicans regularly represented on television and in the workplace.
Still, the journey has not been without challenges. Founder Zantaye Thomas admitted that the youth-led organisation often struggles with limited resources, relying heavily on sponsorship to execute projects.
“We are extremely grateful to have had the support of more than 20 sponsors and collaborators last academic year, which helped us execute several initiatives,” she noted. Expansion has also proved difficult, as identifying existing school clubs and sparking new interest require consistent outreach.
“We’ve been sending emails and making calls to schools in order to grow our network,” she said.
The organisation’s president, Jaylyn Foster, said deaf inclusion must extend beyond providing interpreters. Foster argued that sign language should be taught in schools as a regular subject to ensure genuine participation.
“Deaf inclusion is more than just having interpreters – it means making sure deaf people can fully take part in all areas of life,” Foster told The Gleaner.
The organisation has already made a visible impact, building strong partnerships with deaf-led businesses, interpreters, and advocates across the island. One initiative drawing excitement is the deaf debates, held in collaboration with the Jamaican Association for Debating and Empowerment. The groundbreaking programme empowers deaf students through structured debating. The group is now working towards televising the finals next March.
Later this year, the clubs also plan to host a mass meeting, designed to bring schools together for networking, shared experiences, and building a stronger, united community of sign language advocates.
For the team, the vision remains clear: a Jamaica where deaf culture is celebrated, and sign language is woven seamlessly into national life. Their message to the public is simple – support, learn, and engage. As Thomas stressed, “By raising awareness and creating inclusive spaces, we can make a real difference for the deaf community.”