Hearing Loss and the Workplace - Part One
Don't Ask, Don't Tell Syndrome
Editor: Self Help for Hard of Hearing People (SHHH) recently held
their national convention in St. Paul, MN. I was unable to attend, but
all indications are that it was a wonderfully successful event! Cheryl
Heppner of Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard of
Hearing Persons (NVRC) was in attendance. She did her usual excellent
job of recording the proceedings. She also graciously encourages us to
share the fruits of her labor (with appropriate credit, of course).
Here's the first of Cheryl's reports on the SHHH convention.
BTW, if any of you were in attendance and would like to share your
impressions of workshops or the conference generally, please let me
know.
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This workshop had a great deal of interaction with the audience
sharing their experiences and ideas. Dr. Carren Stika of the
Rehabilitation Research & Training Center in San Diego and Brenda
Battat, Deputy Director of Self Help for Hard of Hearing People, were
the presenters.
CARREN STIKA
- Very little is known about the implications of hearing loss for
hard of hearing people, other than some reports on psychosocial
implications.
- Even less is known about employment and the lives of workers who
are hard of hearing.
- The Rehabilitation Research and Training Center in San Diego has
been studying employment with the assistance of SHHH.
- Most hard of hearing workers reported hearing loss had an impact in
the workplace.
- Most did not feel openly discriminated against, but felt that
employers and coworkers questioned their capability.
- This questioning of their abilities led to stress, feelings of
incompetence, and diminished self esteem.
- Part of the problem is that hard of hearing people themselves do
not understand their hearing loss.
- The feelings of incompetence sometimes resulted in hard of hearing
persons stepping down from a higher position or retiring early.
- A 1991 study showed workers with hearing loss often refrained from
taking advantage of promotion opportunities as a way of coping and
avoiding demanding communication situations.
- In a pilot study, over 72% of people said hearing loss makes them
feel stressed at work and half said it prevented them from getting the
job of their choice.
- When asked "have you told your employers and coworkers you
have a hearing loss?" they were disturbed to find most said no,
because these were SHHH members who tend to be more informed and aware.
Most people also reported that they did not ask for accommodations. The
reason? People feared stigmatization or did not want to be seen as
different or deficient.
- If you don't tell your employers and coworkers about your hearing
loss or try to hide it, it will lead to further problems, because you
will miss or misunderstand things. People may also think you are not
paying attention, stuck up, rude, or don't care.
- Often employers have good intentions but do no know how to help.
- Carren and Marcia Finisdore had a booth at two Employee Assistance
Program conferences. They asked counselors what they did to help hard of
hearing people with employment problems. Most said they provided
interpreters. Ninety percent said that they had contact with a hard of
hearing person who came to them for assistance in the last 5 years. Yet
98% felt they did not have the information or skills to help these
people.
- Brenda was planning to work with the Employee Assistance Program
professionals for the federal government. She had a seminar all set up
for hard of hearing employees, but had to cancel it because not enough
people registered.
- People said that hearing loss prevented them from building social
skills that made them part of the gang, and they were sometimes seen as
aloof because they couldn't make "small talk."
- In questioning audiologists, they found that most don't discuss
adjustments at work, and most people with later-onset hearing loss don't
go to vocational rehabilitation agencies for help.
AUDIENCE
- Comment: It's difficult to participate in team exercises in a
corporation because with hearing loss, it takes time to put together
what others are saying and respond.
- Question: Is there any research showing whether more people with
hearing loss are blue collar workers?
Answer (Brenda Battat): No, only a study that showed less people with
hearing loss were in managerial positions.
Part Two
