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It is relatively obvious that someone who is Deaf will not hear announcements or voice communications. This applies to works videos as well as face to face communication. It will also apply to television (and radio). Deaf employees are likely to be less well informed about a whole range of things which hearing employees take for granted and this needs to be understood in presenting information. Terms, acronyms, abbreviations, references to what is happening in the news may need to be explained in more detail.
Lack of access to this information is not a reflection of Deaf people´s lack of interest or lack of competence - only the reality of the prevalence of speech communication. (Back to top)
Often meetings with Deaf staff whether formal or informal have to be arranged at short notice and without interpreters. Ideally you should learn some basic signs so that you can at least open a conversation - COME-IN, SIT-DOWN, HOW ARE YOU?
Remember all the basics of interaction - make sure the light is on your face, look at the Deaf person when speaking, use gestures, point to the items, write down if necessary, be patient, don´t speak too slow, don´t speak too fast, don´t try to communicate when the person is looking at equipment, a picture or written material. (Back to top)
If you are the chair, you need to make the rules:
Whenever there is a group meeting, training or other key information point, it is advisable to employ a sign language interpreter. Most Deaf people qualify for Access to Work funding and so the cost of the interpreter may be met by government funds. However, interpreters need to be booked as far in advance as possible. See the Q&A on interpreting and the interpreter manual for more details. (Back to top)
Training sessions in-house and external (on courses or even in learning centres) pose specific difficulties for Deaf people. The courses/sessions may be inaccessible if the teacher has no Deaf awareness. As a result the manager needs to be aware that the impact of sending a Deaf employee on a course may be different to that on a hearing colleague. In some cases, the Deaf people´s promotion may be affected if the training courses offered are not accessible - and these courses are frequently stressful and inappropriate to the Deaf learner. (Back to top)
Deaf people are able to keep to all the usual rules of the workplace - as long as these rules are properly explained and are presented in a format which is accessible. It is a myth to suggest that there is a "Deaf time". However, changes to timetables or work patterns may not reach Deaf employees. Equally, changes to a bus timetable, announcements at a railway station may not be known to a Deaf worker and the result may be a later arrival at work. In some workplaces, difficulties in time-keeping are not tolerated but in the case of Deaf staff, the reasons need to be understood.
Where appointments are made externally for health checks etc, it may be necessary for a Deaf person to book an interpreter. Because of the shortage of interpreters, it may not be possible for the Deaf person to decide exactly when an appointment has to take place. Time off work in these situations may be driven by factors which are not experienced by hearing people - who can lift the phone, make an appointment and then turn up.
Deaf daily life is harder than that of hearing people and it is important for personnel staff to understand this. (Back to top)
Just as with all employees Deaf people need to know the rules of safety in the workplace. However, information material prepared for hearing people is often not suited to Deaf readers - you can check your health and safety videos by trying to watch them with no sound. If they are still intelligible, then it may work for Deaf staff. Usually they do not. Health and safety demonstrations are also problematic, even when an interpreter is provided - because the demonstration is usually overlaid by spoken instructions. The Deaf person cannot watch the demonstration and watch the interpreter at the same time.
In recent times, there have been many cases brought to court where information distributed or courses provided were simply not understood by the Deaf member of staff. Since the Deaf person is not aware of what information was presented, he/she cannot say what has been missed. It is necessary to approach this area with great care. (Back to top)
Nowadays, most live interviews will have a sign language interpreter. However, there may be preliminary visits or tours of the workplace, or informal contact during breaks, which are significant and where there is no interpreter present. There may also be informal interviewing in the workplace - about performance or other issues, when an interpreter is not available. In these circumstances, the manager has a specific responsibility to make sure that information is being made clear to the Deaf person. This is a major challenge and there is no simple solution.
However, do not take a smiling face or a nod as an indication of full understanding nor the fact that the Deaf person did not respond to "any questions?" as a confirmation that all has been understood. The sessions may need to followed up by practical observation or indeed the sessions may need to be repeated. (Back to top)
Deaf people have difficulty in reading English. The reasons are complex - partly to do with education and with the difficulties in learning to speak if you cannot hear, the fact that sign language may have been learned late. This factor may have a greater or lesser impact on the workplace. It may affect reports which the employee has to prepare and it may affect, staff communications in print. It is important to realise that this difficulty in access to text is not linked to intelligence. Deaf staff may be perfectly competent in the main parts of the job but may be completely baffled by a complex manual supplied to them during a course, or as homework in a course or even as part of the team work. The significance of this has to be examined in each workplace but often simple changes to the presentation of English text will help; Deaf people may be able to obtain support for English report writing through the Access to Work scheme. (Back to top)
Speech is a core of daily interaction in a predominantly hearing workforce. Deaf employees are aware of that. However, it should never be used as a means of excluding the person. Sometimes, hearing people will make comments of a confidential nature, points about the completion of a task, or even about the person, while the Deaf person is present .... on the basis that the person cannot hear the comment. It is true that often a Deaf person cannot hear, but a Deaf person may lip-read parts, or construct a meaning from body language. This meaning is often incomplete and suspect. It becomes counter-productive. When hearing people seem to be laughing about what has been said, and the Deaf member of staff feels excluded, it is natural to think that the comment somehow relates to himself or herself.
It is vital that hearing managers are aware of the power of speech, even when it is not heard. (Back to top)