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Questions and answers > What Deaf people and hard-of-hearing say about work

  1. What are the experiences of Deaf people at work?
  2. Aspirations and Advice
  3. Jobs after school and application forms
  4. Independence
  5. Interpreters
  6. Deaf awareness
  7. Boring or limited jobs
  8. Access to Work
  9. Money and Promotion
  10. Feelings in the workplace
  11. In future

What are the experiences of Deaf people at work?

We set up focus groups during 2004 in order to discover the experiences that Deaf people have had in their work or attempts to work. We contrasted these experiences with people who can be termed hard of hearing (HOH) – they usually have lesser hearing losses or have acquired their hearing loss later; they are usually able to speak and to hear in some circumstances through hearing aids. This hard-of-hearing group are quite different from Deaf people – although they have a hearing loss, they are unlikely to use sign language nor to mix with other Deaf people. They are likely to have gone further in education and be more able to carry out one to one conversations. However, they will also have problems in groups, in noisy environments and in socialising with work colleagues. They may say they are deaf when at work – although some may prefer to keep their hearing loss hidden.

The data was collected as part of the ESF SEQUAL project (2004).

There were considerable differences in the discussion of the hard-of-hearing group as compared to the Deaf groups. The most striking was their expression of self assuredness and the priority for them to be more assertive in decision-making at work. In terms of career choice, they were much more likely to be discussing the structural aspects of jobs and not the communication issues. They experienced some discrimination but it was of a different order to that of the Deaf community members. They seldom mentioned the need for personal helpers – interpreters or note-takers – while these were a central concern of Deaf people.

There are also clear differences in age and experience at work with the recent Access to Work initiatives and the very existence of interpreters, being relevant only to the young Deaf people. (Back to top)

Aspirations and Advice

The HOH groups were much more likely to talk about school issues, planning, University and careers – in the way that hearing people would think about it. Generally speaking HOH people tended to determine their own direction by themselves – to the extent of choosing courses or going to evening classes and so on. This is not so surprising because for them, the communication issue may be less of a factor. Although there were a few HOH who had been told by advisers not to follow a specific career because of hearing loss, it was much more common among the younger Deaf group.

Older Deaf people had had similar and even more negative experiences.

At the point of advice, there should still be some concern that choices are limited by lack of knowledge in the adviser. (Back to top)

Jobs after school and application forms

Older HOH people said finding a job could be problematic with extensive applications even to get to interview and then a sense of being over-qualified for the job.

For younger Deaf people, the primary discussion was about work experience and placements and the consensus that Deaf young people were not able to obtain the experience and had difficulty in training courses (due to lack of interpreting support). Often there were multiple job experiences before finding something worthwhile.

One of the problems in getting a job or applying for a new job was the English in the application forms and preparing the CV. This appeared as a theme only for Deaf people.

Typically Deaf people are discouraged by open ended questions or where a personal statement has to be made. It is in that area that their difficulties with English might be most obvious. (Back to top)

Independence

The HOH respondents seemed unaware of the possibility of support at work. In some cases, they claimed “I can cope”, as if this was the desirable situation. But other HOH disagreed.

Typically, Deaf people talk about their experiences of going to college without interpreters and being unaware of services which could be offered. There seems to have been little preparation by schools in this respect. One young Deaf person said:

Hard-of-hearing people often try to hide their hearing loss in order to maintain their independence.

Sometimes this assertion of independence had to be done by acknowledging the hearing loss – an issue for HOH people.

It is not surprising that self esteem is of great importance and both Deaf and HOH. (Back to top)

Interpreters

Inevitably, the accounts of job problems came around to interpreters.

Typically, Deaf people complain about lack of interpreters, the cost, the poor quality of the translated information and even the behaviour. While older Deaf people usually had had to do without interpreters (all through their working lives), the younger Deaf people had used interpreters in college and expected them in job interviews. Lack of interpreters made everything more difficult – the interviews, the training, the meetings and the job itself.

The lack of interpreters and poor communication led one participant to this simple life plan.

This apparently humorous image hides what are deep seated feelings about the loss of interaction. One person felt his education was to blame.

The ideas expressed are very common among Deaf people. (Back to top)

Deaf awareness
 
Often people mention situations being deaf-friendly or people being Deaf aware. By this they mean a number of things – the facial expression used when greeting, the consideration in making sure the person understands even if it requires repetitions or writing down, simplifying the interaction and/or the paperwork and so on. One HOH person thought there was a process of educating the employers which could be done personally.

There was some discussion among the young Deaf about the need to educate others in the workplace. It was pointed out that Access to Work might pay, although there was a concern about being singled out or it affecting other people’s work. One person was unsure about the outcomes.

However, there were other examples of major problems at work in relations:

Another said

There were other examples of lack of consideration for Deaf employees

HOH were more likely to assert themselves.

Hard-of –hearing people tended to be more knowledgeable in regard to disability issues and in relation to procedures to deal with problems (because they can read more about it) while Deaf people tend to have to complain generally. (Back to top)

Boring or limited jobs

Another recurring theme was the quality of work which Deaf people were offered – Deaf people get poorer jobs or jobs which are boring.

It is commonly reported by participants that Deaf people are good workers and are able to concentrate when others are distracted (by sound). However, that may mean that Deaf people are thought to be appropriate for work in noisy environments or in repetitive jobs. (Back to top)

Access to work

Access to Work is the government scheme for assessment and provision for disabled people in the workplace. It has great benefits although it identifies the Deaf (or disabled) person as the focus of the problems and provides supports to those needs instead of analysing the aspects of the job or employer’s systems which are discriminatory. It is not a particularly complex scheme but there remains a good deal of confusion and lack of understanding of how to use it. One HOH person said that

Another person increasingly felt a need for support without seeing it as an issue for Access to Work.

In my company like now, I feel some difficulty because I'm deaf; my manager wants me to have more responsibility, interacting with more people ... but he doesn't talk to me about it - I am aware that there are some areas where I'm held back professionally.

Younger Deaf were also often in the dark on this scheme, saying that they had recently found out or that they had met people who knew nothing about it. One person was re-assuring:

However, there seemed also to be problems for HOH people to deal with the system.

I have ... colleague Dan who is also deaf and has been working for the company for 4 years already. I asked whether he applied for Access to Work and he said, what??? ... he couldn't be bothered. In the same way he didn't do anything about trying to apply for the disability living allowance, so again it seems that complacency and pride seem to be our biggest enemies. (HOH)

Throughout there was a sense that the HOH were more able to influence change than the Deaf people, who typically felt powerless to correct the problems they experienced, even when it was protected by DDA. (Back to top)

Money and Promotion

Usually Deaf people believe they earn less than hearing people. On average they are right. One can argue that this is because they have less responsible jobs, but it can also be because they have difficulty with the promotion process.

It is clearly very difficult – on the one hand, Deaf people are just as competent as hearing people, but promotion often means becoming a supervisor and monitoring and interacting with more people. This may be more difficult for a Deaf person unless there are systems in place to support the process. Often this is not the case and this affects the choice of the person who takes on the role. Deaf people are excluded. (Back to top)

Feelings in the workplace

For many, the workplace creates stress and produces uncertain outcomes. It is necessary for Deaf people to have different work patterns or to take time out.

One HOH copes by becoming aloof:

Within the sessions, people talked only fleetingly about their feelings and we did not probe these too deeply. It is quite predictable what the experiences are in the workplace, mostly on the negative side – frustration, anger with often self-defeating outcomes.

For signing Deaf people the frustration is considerable.

These public displays are relatively rare but even so, in many firms Deaf people are seen as difficult and bad-tempered. (Back to top)

In future
 
There was some optimism expressed by the older Deaf people.

Positive comments came from the HOH.

However, the positive statements were few and far between.

On the basis of the experiences of Deaf people, we can see that there remain huge problems and dissatisfaction. Although there is great pressure to find good stories or examples of good practice, the discussions with Deaf people and HOH people do not allow us to point to real examples of enlightened working conditions. There is quite a lot still to be done to make the workplace fair for those who do not hear well. (Back to top)