Sign Language Chat to be Held on Campus

By Vanessa Langdon
News Editor

Language is a pivotal tool used to communicate and foster a sense of community. Two Saint Rose students have been holding monthly events to promote the use of nonverbal or manual language on campus. The final Sign Language chat of the semester will be held Thursday, April 16, from 7 to 9 p.m. in the Neil Hellman Library classroom.
The chats, run by Kaitlin Chieco and Inocencio Zandamela, are not affiliated with any club on campus, but are the brainchild of the pair.
The two met in the College library and exchanged email addresses after chatting in Sign Language.
“Kaitlin e-mailed me asking if I would be interested in starting a Deaf Chat on campus. The two of us began planning last summer,” said Zandamela. “The first chat took place in September of 2014. It was an exciting time! Many Saint Rose students and members of the Deaf community came!”
The chats are aimed at raising awareness for the Deaf community while offering students a chance to use and learn manual language in a comfortable student-run environment. Multiple types of manual language are used at the chats – American Sign Language, Signing in Exact English, and Pidgin Signed English.
The events include language learning and vocabulary enhancing activities, as well as chatting in Sign Language. There are handouts and dictionaries available for attendees to use, and all skill levels are welcome.
As an event not affiliated with a campus club, Chieco and Zandamela fund the entirety of the event themselves. Chieco’s parents help with purchasing food, while she frequently bakes homemade snacks for those in attendance.
The chat is open to all in the Saint Rose community as well as the local community. They have had had both Deaf and hearing professors who teach ASL at various colleges around the Capital Region attend, including those from Adirondack Community College and Siena College.
Chieco, 21, is a junior studying communications sciences and disorders at the College who became interested in Sign Language while in middle school.
“My mom worked as a one-on-one aide for a student in elementary school who was nonverbal and used basic signs to communicate single words,” said Chieco. “I started teaching myself from books so that I could communicate with him when I came to visit his classroom.”
After that initial exposure to Sign Language, Chieco discovered that it was something she wanted to pursue. She took her first Sign Language class at the College as a freshman with Professor Cheryl Pivorunas.
“She was the first Deaf person I met, and watching her lecture was the first time I saw American Sign Language used fluently. I was completely amazed and wanted to learn more,” Chieco said.
She has gone on to take all the Sign Language courses offered at Saint Rose – in addition to her minor in Spanish.
Zandamela, 40, is a graduate student at the College from Mozambique, in Southern Africa. He transferred to Saint Rose after earning his bachelor’s degree from the University of Witwatersrand in South Africa. Zandamela became Deaf at the age of nine. He knows four languages, including Sign, Portuguese, English, and French. His first language is Mozambique Sign Language.
“My goal is to improve Deaf Education in my country,” Zandamela said.
He has worked in five different schools for the Deaf in South Africa and a special school in Mozambique for the Deaf. He has also worked as an assistant researcher in the African Studies Center at the Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, and authored the Mozambique Sign Language Dictionary.
While Zandamela studies at Saint Rose to earn his master’s degree in educational psychology, his wife, Suzete Zandamela, and their daughter continue to live in Mozambique. Zandamela’s wife is also Deaf, while their daughter is hearing. Zandamela has one more semester to go before he completes his degree.
Both Chieco and Zandamela stress the importance of manual language and the Sign Langauge student chats are a way they facilitate its use. The chats allow for learning and increased exposure to Sign Language while being mentored by the Deaf community who own and practice the language.
“Coming to chat is a great way to improve your Sign Language skills, broaden your mind, gain a unique experience, and to meet new people and have fun,” Zandamela said.