Coping With Deafness At Work

Good communication is hard work even for the most experienced hearing members of the workforce. However, as deaf or hard of hearing employees, our communication struggles often lead to a loss of confidence and feelings of isolation. For many, the solution is often to leave and have the company lose a valuable employee.

It’s so stressful working in a busy environment and managing hearing loss. Dealing with constant misunderstandings can leave you feeling very low and mentally drained. At the start of your career, you might have thought just informing people that you were hard of hearing would be enough, but you have to constantly remind them, so what’s the point?

At first, you might have been apologetic when you couldn’t hear them properly, politely asking them to repeat themselves. Forward to a few months later and now you’re known as the “rude deaf lady/guy” loudly saying you can’t hear while pointing to your hearing aids.

Many of your co-workers incorrectly believe that hearing aids miraculously solve all your hearing problems, when in reality it can make things even worse when in group settings or busy environments. It would just be easier to give up and stop trying. You can’t cope anymore, you’ve had enough.

It’s almost the end of the year and people at work are pretty much at their emotional worst, because yet again hundreds of deadlines all need to be met within the next 4 weeks. Many deaf people fear they’re going to lose their job; their colleagues and superiors are frustrated and you feel completely alone and useless.

With this post, I want to share with you that you can and will survive this. Like your colleagues, you bring a range of unique skills, talents and abilities to the workplace and you are worth their effort! Being deaf is bloody hard work, no matter how well you prepare yourself. Just don’t give up. You are not alone and I want to help you better cope with deafness at work. Let’s begin.

First off, before you can take any steps to improving your work environment, you need to know that reasonable adjustments for disabled employees are within your rights.

You shouldn’t feel embarrassed or scared to ask for work accommodations because the 2010 Equality Act provides you with the right to not be disadvantaged or treated with less respect at work due to your hearing loss.

• It is reasonable to talk to your supervisor or boss about your concerns.
• You have the right to ask for the support you need to do your job to the best of your ability.
• It is sensible for you to apply for Access to Work if you need extra help.
• You should highlight how assistive technology will help them retain you and others with hearing loss.

If the assistance you need is not available from your employer, you may be able to get an Access to Work grant, which will pay for special equipment to help you do everyday tasks, like answer the phone or attend meetings.

Now that you know about deaf peoples’ rights at work and that adapting the workplace to support your needs is a reasonable request, let’s look at how to go about asking for these accommodations.

Before you demand a meeting with your boss, it might be a good idea to first get clarity on the chain of command. Find out who are the appropriate supervisors to contact about your particular hard of hearing problem or concern.

While you are within your rights to ask for work adjustments, remember that you are still dealing with your supervisor or boss and a pleasant request works better than a demand.

Also, your workplace is within their right to ask for documentation to confirm your needs, so have that ready.

• Ask to speak to your boss privately behind closed doors. If you need a reason, just say it’s a personal issue.
• Be confident, no one knows you like you do. You know what you need and how it will help you.
• Be very clear about what specifically you’re asking for and in which situations it will help you do your work. For example, you need a captioned phone so there are no misunderstandings when speaking with clients.
• Discuss your needs openly and lay out the options available to your employer.
• It’s important that you be frank and realistic about your abilities, especially if your hearing loss has gotten worse.

While you’re having the meeting, it might also be a good time to ask for some disability awareness training to help staff develop good working relationships with hard of hearing employees and explain that it will also benefit them in understanding their deaf clients better.

Good working communication requires both hearing and deaf people to understand the others point of view. While every workplace has different expectations there are some general feelings most hearing people experience when working with their deaf colleagues.

Many of us find it odd and even rude that no one at work has ever asked about our hearing aid or offered to help when it’s clear we’re struggling with something. Here’s why:

• Hearing people often avoid their hard of hearing colleagues because they’re worried they’ll say something wrong or insensitive.
• Hearing people believe that by offering to help you with a task it might come across that they think you are incapable of accomplishing it on your own.
• Their natural instinct is to feel sorry for you because you can’t hear. Many hearing people know this is bad etiquette but don’t know how to hide their facial expressions.
• Some hearing people feel that employee disability rights give us an unfair advantage, this is usually because they are hiding an invisible disability themselves, for example learning difficulties.

Your colleagues might know little to nothing about your particular hearing situation. To help them effectively communicate with you, you need to share some specifics.

• Instead of saying that you’re deaf or hard of hearing, describe the nature of your hearing loss. For example, I have trouble reading your lips when you use a lot of hand gestures because my eyes tend to follow motions and I might miss what you’re saying.
• Ask them to talk a bit louder and if you pick up that they’re in a bit of a mood that day, ask them to write it down.
• Explain to your colleagues the best ways to communicate with you, for example, don’t start a deep conversation when there’s a lot of noise in the background.
• If one ear has less hearing loss than the other, tell your co-workers to stand on your “good side” when speaking with you.
• Explain how your specialised devices help you and how they work, people are curious by nature and if you have a hearing aid or cochlear implant let them know.
• If you suffer from tinnitus or Meniere’s disease let your colleagues know, so they’ll be aware of how it affects you and what to expect.

Most people will be happy to make sure they can communicate with you effectively if you ask and remind them. Also, there is no shame in asking a co-worker you trust for feedback on an interaction you weren’t sure about, learn from one another and grow a little closer.

Finding and keeping a job is more difficult for us, but there are a number of support schemes available to you and you have the right to ask for it.

If you need help with communication in the workplace and have applied for an Access to Work grant, then request a free demo from us and experience the difference instant captioning can make to your work.

Have more communication tips to share? Leave a comment below.