Suggestions for employers prior hiring future Deaf employees:
1) Be familiar with Americans with Disablities Act (ADA).
Please see those links regarding ADA:
www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm An excellent source of information!
www.ada-infonet.org Yet, more information on ADA
2) Ensure the buildings to have fire alarms with strobe lights, have TTY machines and flashers for phones ready. Also you may ask the propective Deaf employee if he/she needs a pager.
Suggestions for fire alarms:
* Fire alarms with strobe light should be bright enough for Deaf people to see.
* Locations for fire alarms would be ideal in:
Workroom where Deaf people work in.
Restrooms (Men and Women)
Hallways (if the hallway is short, one fire alarm should be fine)
Meeting room
For more information on pagers and TTYs go to the link: (Click here)
3) Ensure the availablity of interpreters for Deaf employees before meetings (staff/office-wide meetings). Having an interpreter or two will make the meeting go faster and save a lot of time.
4) Encourage other employees to learn basic signs in order to communicate with Deaf employees.
4a) Have the hearing employee and the Deaf employee work out hand signals whenever they work together.
5) Don't be afraid to use gestures and/or body language.
Another suggestion:
Before workday begins, write items on a piece of paper (I.E. assignments) and present it to the Deaf employee before he/she begins their assignments.
6) A pager (two way messaging with vibrator) is very effective in communicating with the Deaf employee in case of problems, messages/information whenever he/she is in other place.
Links:
My good friend Reba Orton, has done some research on this issue and she has done an excellent job on it. It has a lot of helpful information.
www.geocities.com/rebaorton/progsurv.htm
