Hearing Loss Products and Services
Advertise on Hearing Loss Web
Search This Site or the Web

Free Email Newsletter

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Hearing Loss Web Banner
Discussion Forum
Hearing Loss Events
Last Update: May 1

 

Home

About Us

Search this Site

New to Hearing Loss?
In the News

Discussion Forum

HOH-LD-News

Advertise

Contact Us

Glossary

Events

 

Issues

Access

Oral Communications

Emergency Planning

Employment

Family

Hearing Aid Affordability

Identity

Law Enforcement

Psychological

Services

 

Medical

Audiology

Causes

Cures

Meniere's Disease

Tinnitus

 
Local Resources and Events
 
Employment Opportunities
 
Education Opportunities

Hearing Loss Products and Services

Advocates and Legal
Alerting Devices
Assistive Listening Devices
Business Services

Captioning

Financial Services
General Stores

Government

Health Products and Services
Hearing Aids
Hearing Aid Accessories
Hearing Aid Batteries
Hearing Aid Maintenance
Hearing Aid Repair
Hearing Dogs
Hearing Loss Organizations
Hints and Tips
Kids' Stuff
Medical Products and Services
Pagers

Publications

Relay Service
Sign Language Materials
Telecommunications Distribution Program

Telephones

Travel

TTYs (TDDs)

TTY Repairs

Two-Way Pagers

Technology

Alerting Devices

Assistive Listening Devices

Cochlear Implants

Hearing Aids

Speech Recognition

Telephones

Two Way Pagers

TTYs (TDDs)

Visual Communications

Links

hearing loss and employment

People with hearing loss may have have difficulty getting and keeping jobs. Those that have employment need communications accommodations to function most effectively. Employer's efforts to provide accommodation greatly affect the attitudes of people with hearing loss towards their work.

It may be extremely difficult for people with hearing loss to get a job. Whether because of ignorance, uncertainty, fear, or malice, employers are often unwilling to hard of hearing, late deafened, or oral deaf people. This is illegal under various laws in the United States, but is still an extremely common practice. In addition to the obvious consequence that many hard of hearing, late deafened, and oral deaf persons don't have jobs, many are stuck in jobs that are unfulfilling , offer no advancement possibilities, or lack challenge and interest; they are stuck because they think it extremely unlikely that they will get hired for another job, regardless of their qualifications and experience.

Life isn't necessarily a lot better for people who have jobs, even for those who have fulfilling and challenging positions. Lack of accommodations in an employment situation can turn a potentially wonderful job into a nightmare. Read one person's description of an employment situation that lacked accommodations. Notice the tone of the message. Now read another person's description of an employment situation that provided accommodation. Notice the tone of that message. Which person would you rather have working for you?

Think accommodations are too expensive? If you're a small business, the Disabled Access Credit provides tax relief of up to $5,000 a year for accommodations you provide.

May 2000 - Another tough issue is determining for which jobs hearing is really a requirement, and for which it isn't. Read about a court case involving an airline mechanic.

July 2000 - There was a wonderful panel discussion on Hearing Loss and the Workplace at the 2000 SHHH convention. Cheryl Heppner of NVRC wrote up a great summary of the discussion and graciously shared it with us.

November 2000 - How are things at work? Does your hearing loss contribute to problems there? Is communications an issue. Get some ideas on how to approach these and other problems at the ALDACON 2000 Hearing Loss in the Workplace panel workshop.

January 2001 - NTID Offers Guide to Employing People with Hearing Loss

January 2001 - Know any deaf lawyers? How many do you think ther are in the US? The answer may surprise you, as it did me and some of our readers. Here's some interesting information on deaf lawyers in the US.

February 2001 - Here's a great list of tips for people with hearing loss in the workplace. Thanks to Trudy Zahn (zahn@primary.net) for permission to share this with you.

April 2001 - New Website Established for Deaf Lawyers and Students

July 2001 - Japan Removes Occupation Restrictions on People with Disabilities

October 2001 - You may have heard about a discrimination suit brought against Wal-Mart by two deaf men in Arizona. As a result of that suit, Wal-Mart will be paying for television ads in which the men tell their story. Here's the information.

November 2001 - Anyone who's read our newsletter for any length of time is familiar with Cheryl Heppner and her wonderful organization, NVRC. They recently held a workshop focusing on what employers are looking for in today's market. Here's Cheryl's write-up.

July 2002 - Workplace Email List Debuts

July 2002 - Maintaining Employment Status and Enhancing Personal Adjustment

July 2002 - The 2002 SHHH Convention included a great workshop on hearing loss issues in the workplace. If you're having problems at work, you may want to check out this report.

July 2002 - The SHHH Convention Research Symposium included the following employment-related presentations:

- Innovative Rehabilitation Interventions Regarding Employment by Dr. Steven Boone of the University of Arkansas Rehabilitation Research and Training (RRT) Center for Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing

- Maintaining Employment Status and Enhancing Personal Adjustment by Dr. Carren Stika of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (RRTC) for Persons who are Hard of Hearing or Late Deafened

November 2002 - Job hunt got you down? If you need a little pick-me-up (or even if you don't), you'll enjoy Attitude is Everything!

December 2002 - Dreading that holiday party? Here are some (tongue-in-cheek) tips from Randy Collins on how you can survive the ordeal.

July 2003 - Hearing loss in the workplace is always a popular topic at hearing loss conventions. Here's Cheryl Heppner's report on Beth Wilson's workshop on that topic from the 2003 SHHH convention.

October 2003 - Here are some thoughts on employment and hearing loss, as expressed on the HLWork email list, which focuses on hearing loss in the workplace. (See http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HLWork for information on the list)

July 2004 - If you think that the Federal Government is still looking to hire people with disabilities, you may be surprised by this article about a recent EEOC study!

October 2004 - Several years ago I started an email list to discuss workplace issues related to hearing loss. Exchanges are a bit sporadic, but we have had many wonderful discussions on employment issues. Here are two emails from a recent exchange.  (To join the group, send an email to:
HLWork-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
)

January 2005 - Will the Department of Rehabilitation pay for you to attend law school?

March 2005 - Ever notice that most of the people who work in organizations for the "Deaf and hard of hearing" are either Deaf or hearing? In many of these organizations you can count the number of hard of hearing people on one hand - and have five fingers left over! We're running a series on the awakening oral hearing loss (OHL) community, and one of our focuses will be on organizations that falsely claim to serve Deaf and hard of hearing people. And we even have an advocacy group you can join! More information is is available in the Identity section.

May 2005 - At the 2005 Western Symposium on Deafness Dr. John Schroedel and Dr. Douglas Watson of the University of Arkansas presented an excellent workshop entitled "Patterns in the Employment and Vocational Rehabilitation of Hard of Hearing Persons".

March 2006 - We've all heard that hearing loss affects all aspects of life, including employment. A recent study in Denmark has confirmed this fact, and provides some quantitative results. 

March 2006 - An article in the New Standard argues that attitude, not cost, is the main barrier to the employment of people with disabilities.

June 2006 - Research Indicates Relationship Between Hearing and Income

July 2006 - Deaf man realizes dream of being cop

October 2006  - Court: UPS Discriminated Against Deaf

October 2006 - Here's a great synopsis of baby boomers' hearing loss, how it's affecting their lives, and what they're (not) doing about it.

April 2007 - Court to Reconsider if UPS Can Bar Deaf Drivers from Vans

July 2007 - A Quiet Day at the Office: Acoustics for People who are Hard of Hearing

July 2007 - Hearing Loss in the Workplace: 2007 and Beyond

August 2007 - Absenteeism Higher Among Hearing Impaired People

October 2007 - Hearing Loss Impacts Earnings

December 2007 - Court orders judge to reconsider ruling on deaf truck drivers

January 2008 - Federal Hiring of People with Disabilities Plummets

April 2008 - Absenteeism Higher Among Hearing Impaired People