Lin745 Field Paper
Ben Bahan

Deaf and Hard Of Hearing Computer Programmers Field Paper on Accommodation Expectations

by Rebecca Orton

Introduction

 
 
Economics include expectations of how things should be in the work place. 
Economics of the Deaf microculture would include expectations of how the
work place should accommodate communication needs of the deaf and hard of
hearing people. The most common professional field since the sixties for
deaf and hard of hearing people to be employed in have been the computer
programming field. Since the Americans with Disabilities Act had been
passed in 1993, accommodations in the work place for deaf and hard of
hearing computer programmers have been mandated. However, which
accommodations are expected to be provided is a matter of societal
influence, employer flexibility, and individual choice. This research
study looked at expectations of accommodations for communication in the
work environment of deaf and hard of hearing computer programmers. The
rationale for this research is to increase scholarly awareness of whether
accommodations for communication for deaf and hard of hearing computer
programmers in the work place are really satisfactory, or whether
expectations for effective communication are relatively low. 
 

Methodology

 
 
I had initially prepared a survey consisting of 116 questions within
thirteen categories. These categories are "Work Background", "Face to
Face Communication with Your Boss", "Work-Related Text Information",
"Work-Related Training", "Meeting Arrangements ", "Meeting Communication
and Accommodation", "Telecommunication Accommodations At Work",
Telecommunications Contact Between You and Your Client at Work",
Telecommunications Contact From Your Boss When You Are At Home", "Computer
Room Personnel Telecommunications Contact When You At Home",
"Telecommunications Contact for Business Travel", Employee Benefits", and
"Work-Sponsored Activities". 
 
I solicited volunteers via email to various email listings as well as sent
three letters with the survey enclosed to potential volunteers through the
US Postal Service. As of the latest count, I had a total of 278 emails,
including both email that I have received and that I have sent for this
research project. There were no responses to the three surveys that I had
mailed even though I had enclosed a stamp as an incentive to return the
completed survey to me. These three people did not have email addresses. 
There were seventeen actual respondents out of 52 people that either
responded to my requests or that I sent a request to. One of the
seventeen respondents had recently retired. The rest were currently
employed at the time they responded to the survey. 
 
The actual responses to the survey questions were mostly straight forward
yes, no or blank answers. However, many times I needed to interpret a
comment as falling into an affirmative category or not. I also had two
follow up questions that later occurred to me after I had received some
responses to the survey. One question fit into the "Work-Related
Training" category. The other question was a stand alone question about
training the clients on the software that the respondents had worked on. 
These responses were more detailed and required involved interpretation
to determine if they were affirmative responses or not. Any mistakes on
these interpretations are solely my own.
 

Analysis

Work Background

 
 
The respondents worked for the following companies listed below.
 
"Advanced Technology Systems"
"Lucent Technologies"
"Lockheed Martin"
"Michelin Americas Research & Development Center"
 
"As a programmer, I've worked for Kerr-McGee Corporation in Oklahoma City,
A contracting firm in New Jersey ( jobs in New Jersey, Illinois, Oregon),
And my current employer Fidelity Investments Southwest." 
 
"U S WEST Inc."
"The Gleason Works"
"SELF-EMPLOYED - BEN NEVIS CONSULTING"
"BOSTON FINANCIAL DATA SERVICES"
"Electronic Data System, Inc."
"State of New Jersey"
"AT&T"
 
"Technology and Science Secretariat - Province of Nova Scotia - First of
all, I would like to point out that my employer is the provincial
government (an American equivalent would be the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts government or the State of Virginia government) as opposed
to a corporate entity." 
 
"Siemens Building Technologies, Landis Division (formerly Landis and
Staefa)" 
 
"JAARS, Inc."
"Armstrong Worldwide Inc."
"Electronic Data Systems"
 
 
The respondents worked in following cities listed below.
 
"McLean, VA"
"Lisle IL"
 
"King of Prussia - The area is also known as Valley Forge about 20 miles
north west of Philadelphia." 
 
"Greenville, SC"
"Las Colinas (Irving) Texas"
"Denver, CO"
"Rochester, NY"
"CHICAGO, ILLINOIS METRO AREA"
"QUINCY, MA"
"Herndon, VA"
"Trenton, New Jersey"
"Work from home, office is situated in NJ"
 
"Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada - Canada has absolutely nothing that even
resembles ADA in any form or shape. The provincial government along with
many other provincial governments as well as the Canadian federal
government have "employment equity programs " which help First peoples
(aboriginals), visible minorities (examples: Asian Canadians or African
Canadian), women and persons with disabilities *obtain* jobs. Please note
that I've emphasized the word "obtain". That means the Nova Scotian
government is obligated to help people get civil positions but not to help
them get promotions or necessarily with job accommodations. With a simple
polite request, I got my TTY and flasher with no fuss. I know another Deaf
civil servant for another department who has had lots of problems getting
his supervisor to order a TTY for him. The first thing I did upon gaining
my employment here was to prove myself as an extremely valuable employee
and the rest was smooth sailing from there. And from that my supervisors
realized if they wanted to retain me as a happy and extremely productive
employee, then they had to make certain accommodations such as providing
me with interpreters, TTY and flasher. My employer has gone the extra
mile for me simply because I myself have g one the extra mile for my
employer as well." 
 
"Buffalo Grove, Illinois"
"Waxhaw, NC (near Charlotte)"
"Lancaster, Pa."
 
"Troy, MI, and various places depending on projects worked on at customer
site like it was Warren at GM Tech Center." 
 
Fifteen respondents worked directly for an employer, and only 6 worked for
a contract agency. Nine respondents worked for a huge company with more
than fifteen thousand employees. Three respondents worked for a medium
sized company between five hundred to five thousand employees. Two
respondents worked for a large company, between five thousand to fifteen
thousand employees. Two respondents worked for a small company with only
fifty to five hundred people. One respondent worked for a mom and pop
company with one to fifty employees. 
 

Face to Face Communication with the Boss

 
 
Sixteen respondents expected to communicate with their boss alone. 
Fourteen expected to verbally talk with the boss. Ten expected to write
with their boss. Only two expected to sign with their boss. One
respondent expected to use assistive listening devices to help hear the
boss. Assistive listening devices (ALD's) include FM systems, infra-red
systems, induction loop systems, etc. Hearing aids are not considered to
be assistive listening devices any more than glasses are considered to be
assistive seeing devices. 
 
Twelve respondents expected to have a quiet room when communicating with
the boss. 
 
Only one respondent answered affirmatively to the question whether they
expected to have a person help communicate with the boss. Apparently sign
language interpreters and people doing computer assisted note-taking (CAN) 
are not considered to be people helping the respondent communicate with
the boss. Five respondents expect to use a sign language interpreter and
three expected to use CAN to communicate with the boss. None of the
respondents expected to use real-time captioning (CART) to communicate
with the boss or to have a person take notes by hand of the conversation
between the respondent and the boss for later reference.
 
Twelve respondents expected to understand everything that the boss
communicates to them. Fourteen respondents are satisfied with their
expectations for communicating with their boss. 
 

Work-Related Text Information

 
 
Sixteen respondents expected to read all broadcast email at work. Fifteen
expected to read manuals. Fourteen respondents expected to read more than
hearing people in order to communicate with hearing people at work. 
Eleven expected to read all the flyers and brochures received via
interoffice mail. 
 
Fourteen respondents are satisfied with their expectations for plenty of
text information available. 
 

Work-Related Training

 
 
Sixteen respondents expected to take work-related classes on company time. 
Fourteen expected to train themselves alone at work. Thirteen expected to
have formal on-the-job training. Nine expected to take work-related
classes on their own time and to train themselves at home for work. 
Eight respondents expected to know more than other hearing people in order
to communicate with hearing people at work. 
 
Twelve respondents are satisfied with their expectations for training.
 
Fifteen respondents expected to learn on the job about the industry that
their work is in. Twelve expected to have a degree in their industry. 
When I received answers to these two questions, I realized that there was
some misunderstanding about what I was asking for. I wanted to ask about
their expectations regarding familiarity with the industry that their
companies are considered part of, for example, insurance, textiles,
aerospace, etc. I ended up asking another question with background
information to explain what I was looking for. This question was set up
like this below. 
 
"Years ago in the early 90's, I had seen position advertisements for
computer programmers in the telecommunications field. These ads usually
required degrees or experience in both electrical engineering and computer
programming. 
 
In my experience as a professional computer programmer, I have seen
hearing computer programmers that had degrees in Accounting, Business
Management, Actuarial Science or other related financial fields. Some of
these computer programmers have only taken a few courses in computer
programming before being hired as a computer programmer. 
 
My question is along the same lines:
 
Do you expect to have another degree, other than the computer science (or
CIS) degree you already have, in order to communicate effectively with
your clients in your workplace?" 
 
I interpreted the answer to this question above to be seven affirmative
replies and the rest to be negative replies. My interpretation, if
necessary, is in parentheses by each answer listed below. 
 
(y) "I don't have a computer science degree...I have a BA in philosophy, a
Master's in Library Science and an AA in computer science...I think being
an effective communicator and listener is the key to client 
interaction...obviously the technical knowledge is necessary to complete
whatever project is being worked on..."
 
(n) "A degree doesn't help me communicate in the workplace, unless I need
a big head to do it. " 
 
(y) "I am currently working towards a MBA degree."
 
(y) "No, but it will be very helpful to have studies or experience in
areas other than computer science, i.e. Accounting or Business
Administration to get a better understanding of the systems you will be
using. Otherwise, if you expect to work on database development, a
Computer Science degree should be sufficient." 
 
(y) "I do have Associate Degrees in : Accounting and Mainframe Computer
Operations, as well as an Associate Degree in Business - Application
programming. The accounting Degree is very helpful in programming for
financial applications. The operations training helps to understand the
problems the operations desk is having with my application. I would
imagine having a degree related to the industry you are programming for
would be very helpful. I also feel that at times, the specialized
knowledge of how the machine works is invaluable, as well as tricks for
fine-tuning you learn in Computer courses." 
 
(n) "I have Information Technology BS degree."
 
(n) "ACTUALLY, MY THREE DEGREES ARE IN CHEMISTRY/MATH, PERSONNEL
ADMINISTRATION AND SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION. I GOT INTO PROGRAMMING AND
OTHER COMPUTER WORK WITHOUT FORMAL CS TRAINING." 
 
"yes, MCSE Engineering Degree, and SQL, both of these are System
administrators courses and should be certified by mid summer in both."
 
(y) "I do not have a degree. However, the state's policy is you should
have a degree, often non-related to your work." 
 
(n) "I do not expect to receive another degree. The degrees in Computer
Science I received -- first a Bachelor's and then a M.S.C.S. degree both
had humanities requirements. These humanities classes had to do with
communications such as writing, speaking, and otherwise communicating
clearly with people."
 
(n) "I do not expect to have another degree in order to communicate
effectively with my clients." 
 
(n) "I don't know about this question as I haven't seen a possibility of
requirement unless its something that is required for the business with
customers." 
 

Meeting Arrangements

 
 
All seventeen respondents expected to have meetings at work. Apparently,
meetings in the work place is a fact of life for every respondent. Fifteen
respondents expected to have face to face meetings at their desk. But only
three expected to have their own quiet room for their desk in order to
meet with other people. Fourteen expected to have large meetings with
twenty to two hundred people in a large room or auditorium as well as
small sized meetings with two to five people at a round table in a quiet
room. Thirteen people expected to have medium sized meetings with six to
twenty people at a long table in a quiet room. 
 
Ten respondents expected to have a quiet work environment to meet in and
to have small sized impromptu meetings with two to five people while
standing around in the hallways. This finding suggests that if the work
environment is noisy, then impromptu meetings while standing around the
work place are not encouraged.
 
Seven respondents expected to have medium sized meetings with six to
twenty people with chairs arranged in a circle (for better visibility). 
Only two expected to have medium sized impromptu meetings with six to
twenty people while standing around in the hallways. Again, only two
respondents expected to be waived from attending meetings. 
 
Only nine respondents are satisfied with their expectations for meeting
setup. 
 

Meeting Communication and Accommodations

 
 
Fifteen respondents expected to talk at the meetings. Thirteen expected
to use a sign language interpreter to communicate within the meeting. 
However, only ten respondents expected to have a person help communicate
within the meeting. Again, the sign language interpreter was not
considered to be a person helping the respondent to communicate in the
meeting. Apparently, the word "help" is the key here. A sign language
interpreter isn't considered to be "helping" a respondent, but rather
performing their professional duties for the respondent. 
 
Eleven expected to have a person take notes within the meeting for later
reference. Whether or not these notes are meant solely as an
accommodation for the respondent or for everyone within the meeting was
not taken into consideration. The availability of these notes for the
respondent was what I was after. Only seven respondents expected to write
TO people at the meeting. 
 
Only five respondents expected to sign to people at the meeting. Two
expected to used CART and two expected to use CAN in the meetings. Only
one respondent expected to use ALD's. 
 
Only eleven respondents are satisfied with their expectations for
communicating within a meeting. Seven respondents, even fewer yet, expect
to understand everything communicated within a meeting. 
 

Telecommunication Accommodations At Work

 
 
Sixteen respondents expected to have a regular phone at work even though
they may not use it. Fourteen expected to have the same capabilities to
communicate over the phone wires at work as they do at home. This finding
is rather unexpected unless popular state of the art technology was
expected to be used for both home and work, or bare minimal technology was
expected to be used to get by for both home and work. Thirteen
respondents expected to have a TTY at work. Twelve expected to have a
flasher for telephone rings. Having a TTY and a flasher is considered to
be the bare minimum technology necessary to get by. State of the art
technology was listed below for the question whether the respondent
expected to use other telecommunication technology at work. There were
eleven replies that I considered to be qualified as affirmative replies. 
Email was not considered a qualified affirmative reply because email is
considered to be more common than even phone numbers. Most replies
included popular state of the art technology such as computers, fax,
pagers, and chat software. Some replies included technology used within
the company only, such as an intranet and an interoffice text phone
accessible via the computer system. The replies are as listed below. 
 
"Computers???"
"COnference calls"
"Email"
"Internet Chat software (strictly for business use only)"
"E-mail, Fax, company intranet"
 
"I've carried a WyndTell pager for business use. My company purchased it
and has paid averagely $43 a month." 
 
"wyndtell pager and Email"
"MOSTLY E-MAIL CAPABILITY"
"INTER OFFICE PHONE - LIKE ON THE VAX (DIGITAL PLATFORM)"
 
"Online meetings are necessary to some meetings. Also, two way pagers may
be necessary to handle on call duties." 
 
"Yes, using the Wyndtell pager"
"Pager"
 
"Fax, Instant Messenger, Chat facility like Microsoft Chat or NetMeeting
(**) and wireless multi-purpose pager." 
 
Eleven respondents expected to have voice mail at work even though they
may not use it. Six respondents expected to use a computer instead of a
TTY for TTY calls. Four expected to use both a TTY phone and a VCO phone
at work. However, only three expected to have a VCO phone at work. One
of the respondents indicated that their TTY has a VCO feature built-in.
Four respondents expected to have voice mail capable of handling TTY calls
at work. Two respondents expected to use a cellular phone at work but
only one expected to use a TTY-compatible cellular phone. 
 
Thirteen respondents are satisfied with their expectations for
telecommunication at work. 
 

Telecommunication Contact Between You and Your Client at Work

 
 
Fifteen respondents expected their clients to use email directly with them
to communicate information they need for their job. Fourteen expected
their clients to contact them at work. Apparently, one respondent doesn't
expect any contact at all from clients, but would expect it in the form
of email, anyway. 
 
Nine respondents expected their clients to page them. Eight expected
their clients to use the relay service to call their TTY's. Five
respondents expected their clients to contact their boss to communicate
information they need for their job. Three expected their clients to
have a TTY and to call their TTY directly. 
 
Four respondents expected that the client wants to hear their voice. 
Three respondents expected to save time by talking with their client by
using the Voice Carry Over (VCO) option that relay services provide. 
 
Fourteen respondents expected to understand everything that the client
communicates to them, but only eleven respondents are satisfied with their
expectations for client contact at work. 
 

Telecommunication Contact From Your Boss When You Are At Home

 
 
Thirteen respondents expected their boss to contact them at home via
email. Eleven respondents expected their boss to use the relay service to
call their TTY's at home. Only ten respondents actually do expect their
boss to contact them at home at all. Ten expected to be paged by their
boss while at home. Two respondents expected their boss to use a voice
phone to call their voice phone. Only one respondent expected their boss
to use a TTY to call their TTY directly at home. 
 
Only six respondents expected their boss to leave a TTY message on their
TTY's or TTY-compatible voice mail at home. It seems that the respondents
expected their bosses to repeatedly call until they reply rather than
expect to get a TTY message to call their boss back. Only three
respondents expected their boss to leave a voice message on their voice
mail or answering machine at home. 
 
Thirteen respondents expected to understand everything that the boss
communicates to them at home, but only eleven respondents are satisfied
with their expectations for home contact from their boss. 
 

Computer Room Personnel Telecommunication Contact When You Are At Home

 
 
Ten respondents expected to be on-call at home for computer room problems
at work and to be paged by computer room personnel. Eight respondents
expected the computer room personnel to use the relay service to call
their TTY's at home. Six respondents expected the computer room
personnel to use email to contact them at home. Five respondents expected
the computer room personnel to leave a TTY message on their TTY or
TTY-compatible voice mail at home and four expected them to leave a voice
message on their voice mail or answering machine at home. However, only
two expected the computer room personnel to call their voice phone at home
with a voice phone. Two respondents expressed frustration with computer
room personnel using a voice phone when they expected a TTY call either
directly or via the relay service. One respondent expected the compute
room personnel to use a TTY to call their TTY directly. 
 
Thirteen respondents expected to understand everything that the computer
room personnel communicates to them, but only ten respondents are
satisfied with their expectations for computer room personnel contact. 
 

Telecommunications Contact for Business Travel

 
 
Ten respondents expected to make calls while traveling for business. Nine
expected to use a portable laptop to communicate while traveling on
business. Two respondents indicated that they do have a portable TTY
available to use for that purpose. Only six actually expected to travel
for business. Nine respondents are satisfied with their expectations to
travel for business. Four respondents have indicated that they do not
expect to travel for business at all. 
 

Employee Benefits

 
 
Eight respondents expected to be accommodated for communication with a
benefits consultant at work about their employee benefits. Fifteen are
satisfied with their expectations for communication accommodation for
employee benefits. Apparently benefit information is communicated in
other ways that are accessible to the respondents, such as text
information, perhaps. 
 

Work-Sponsored Activities

 
 
Twelve respondents expected to be accommodated for classes at work that
are not directly related to work. Six respondents expected to be
accommodated for work parties in public as well as private work parties. 
Five respondents expected to be accommodated for work parties at work and
for work fairs. 
 
Eleven expected to be accommodated for diversity activities at work. Two
of the respondents did not understand what diversity activities were
referring to. I explained it the following way. There is a trend in
large companies to focus on ethnic and disabled groups in their
workplace. A diversity group is basically a support group that is
sanctioned by the employer. US West's "Friends" and Principal Financial
Group's "Diversity Council" are two such examples of diversity groups. 
 
Thirteen respondents are satisfied with their expectations for
accommodations for work-sponsored activities. 
 

Additional Question that Came Up as a Result of Responses to the Survey

 
 
As I reviewed the responses that I had been receiving, one respondent
indicated that they trained clients themself to use the software that they
had worked on. This responsibility was one that I had not expected to see
placed on a deaf or hard of hearing computer programmer. So I had added
this question below to see what the other respondents expected. I had
gotten what I considered to be fourteen affirmative replies. My
interpretation is listed in parentheses. The question was "Do you expect
to instruct your clients personally on how to use the programs you worked
on?" The answers are listed below. 
 
(n) "We have a dedicated dept. at our company that provides formal
training to our customers." 
 
(y) "I worked on two different platforms: VAX & PC. With applications for
VAX, the analysts above me do all the instructing to the clients. However,
when I work on PC applications, especially Microsoft Access, I prepare an
User's Manual with screen shots illustrations to help them navigate
through the application. In some cases, I will just show them the initial
start-up. Then afterwards give them any technical support. In my own
case, My training is primarily to write programs, and the other degrees a
re simply to help understand what the users are trying to say. I do have
better technical knowledge of how a particular solution can be achieved,
as well as issues of machine efficiency. (Please don't ask about the
2-digit year... That was from another time when disk space was scarce and
expensive! )"
 
(y) "When I worked for a smaller firm, with ONLINE applications, we would
often train a few contact people from the business side on our software,
and they taught others. We were always available for questions. This is
one of the ways the software remains current, or improves, as we learn of
specific problems in the field and devise solutions to those problems. In
my current company, we have trainers that instruct the users. In some
ways, it's not as efficient. BUT, I'm now working in BATCH monthly
statement processing, as opposed to the ONLINE real-time applications I
used to work with. It's a different environment. Now, those using our
programs are usually other computer professionals. The users only see the
output of the process (Monthly statements/control reports)."
 
(y) "AS A CONSULTANT, THAT IS A MAJOR PART OF MY WORK. IN ADDITION, I
TEACH (MOSTLY HEARING) CLIENTS ON THE USE OF "OFF THE SHELF" SOFTWARE
PACKAGES SUCH AS LOTUS, MICROSOFT, ETC."
 
"yes, getting involved only in the security end of it, my co-workers on
this team will handle the more day to day aspect of the newly developed
programs.. I will be busy managing the servers, and client machines, a
total of 80 machines, so I will be too busy." 
 
"Yes and that is a big part of my job."
 
(y) "In some cases I personally instruct the clients. However I usually
try to get a knowledgeable client to write a users manual or tutorial and
become involved in training others. The programmer can be the worst
person (whether deaf or hearing) to write a users manual because he will
invariably write it from his point of view rather than the user's."
 
(y) "I do instruct my clients personally on how to use the programs that I
worked on."
 
(y) "It depends on the projects - I haven't encountered that incident, yet
but if it will happen that involves much of my knowledge and work on it
then I would be expected to instruct how to use it personally to
customers."
 

Findings

 
 
There were some interesting variations in the work background of the
respondents. Some of the companies represented by these respondents are a
Canada state government and a USA state government, one was self-employed,
two were telephone companies, one was an aerospace company, a bank, two
were the EDS company which is considered to be both a contract company and
an employer, and one was a work at home situation. Areas represented by
these respondents are three in Illinois, two in Pennsylvania, two in
Virginia, one in Colorado, Massachusetts, Michigan, North Carolina, New
Jersey, New York, South Carolina, Texas, and Canada.
 
The most remarkable trend that I noticed that was about half of these
respondents worked for huge companies, more than fifteen thousand
employees. The other half of the respondents worked for a variety of
smaller companies. Six respondents considered themselves to be working
for a contract agency. Most responded that they were working directly for
an employer.
 
The most significant finding was that about three quarters of the
respondents expect to understand everything the boss communicates on a
face to face basis, however, less than half of the respondents expect to
understand everything that is communicated within a meeting. For
example, in face to face communication with the boss, most respondents are
satisfied with their expectations. Their expectations were that they
would understand everything that the boss communicates to them and that
they would talk or write with the boss alone in a quiet room. Also, with
regard to telecommunications, most of the respondents expect to understand
everything that the boss, clients, and the computer room personnel
communicates. Apparently, meetings is an area where expectations of
understanding everything are low for deaf and hard of hearing computer
programmers. In addition, bluffing would be harder to detect in a meeting
because the information communicated in the meeting may not be directly
applicable to a respondent.
 
This finding is significant because all of the respondents do expect to
have meetings. Only two expected to be waived from attending meetings. 
Most expect to have face to face meetings at their own desk, but only
three expected to have their own quiet room for their desk in order to
meet with other people. Most respondents expect to have small meetings at
a round table in a quiet room with two to five people. Over half of the
respondents expected small impromptu meetings with two to five people
while standing around in the hallways, but only two expected more people
(like six to twenty people) to meet like this. At least three quarters
expected to have medium sized meetings with six to twenty people around a
long table in a quiet room or in a classroom style arrangement, but less
than half expected to have these same medium sized meetings with chairs
arranged in a circle (for better visibility). Most expect to have large
meetings with twenty to two hundred people in a large room or auditorium.
There is a variety of meetings that the respondents expect to be involved
in. 
 
But their expectations are not being met for meeting setup. Only about
half are satisfied with the meeting setup. Clearly, meeting room
arrangements in the workplace is a weak area regarding accommodations for
deaf and hard of hearing computer programmers. 
 
These findings above are ironic considering that most deaf and hard of
hearing computer programmers expect to talk at the meetings to accommodate
hearing people. These expectations seem to be dictated by an oppressive
hearing society. Less than half of the respondents expect to sign or
write to people at the meetings. Only one person expected to use an
assistive listening device (ALD's) in the meetings. Other technology,
such as real time captioning (CART) and computer assisted note-taking
(CAN), were only expected to be used by two of the respondents in the
meetings. Over half expected to rely on notes that were taken by a person
in the meeting for later reference, but not necessarily as an
accommodation solely for them. 
 
However, at least three quarters of the respondents expected to use sign
interpreters within the meetings. There was more reliance on people (over
half) than on technology to facilitate communication within a meeting. 
 
The most unusual finding was that the respondents had lower expectations
for understanding everything in a meeting than for communication within a
meeting in general. This finding reveals a tolerance for a lack of
understanding during a meeting on the part of the deaf and hard of
hearing computer programmers. This lack of understanding is then later
made up for either in the form of notes from the meeting or other textual
information encountered at the workplace.
 
For example, most deaf and hard of hearing computer programmers expect to
read more than hearing people in order to communicate effectively in the
workplace. Almost all of the respondents expect to read broadcast email
and most expect to rely on work manuals. More than half of the
respondents expect to read flyers and brochures they receive in
interoffice mail. Most of the respondents indicated that their needs for
work related textual information are satisfied.
 

Conclusion

 
 
This study found one significant communication difference between the
hearing world and the deaf world with regard to deaf and hard of hearing
computer programmers. There is a higher reliance on textual information
than on verbal information in the workplace for deaf and hard of hearing
computer programmers. This difference can be attributed to a visual mode
of living for deaf and hard of hearing people, rather than an aural mode
of living for hearing people. Deaf and hard of hearing computer
programmers tolerate a lack of understanding of aural information within a
meeting. This tolerance could be a culturally conditioned response to a
hearing society and an oppressive culture as well as a biological result
of being a deaf or hard of hearing person. The question remains, is the
computer programming field deaf and hard of hearing people friendly? My
answer is that the computer programming field used to be twenty or thirty
years ago during the industrial age, but in today's information age with
the emphasis on intensive communication in the work place, I doubt it.
 
 
 

Appendix A

Questionnaire

Work Background

 
 
What is the name of your work place?
What city do you work in?
 
Do you work directly for an employer?
Do you work for a contract agency?
 
Is your company a mom and pop sized company (1-50 employees)?
Is your company a small company (50-500 employees)?
Is your company a medium sized company (500-5000 employees)? 
Is your company a large company (5000-15,000 employees)?
Is your company a huge company (more than 15,000 employees)?
 

Face to Face Communication with Your Boss

 
 
Do you expect to communicate with your boss in person alone?
Do you expect to talk to your boss and your boss to talk to you?
Do you expect to sign to your boss and your boss to sign to you?
Do you expect to write to your boss and your boss to write to you?
Do you expect to use assistive listening devices to help hear your boss?
Do you expect to have a quiet room when you communicate with your boss?
 
Do you expect to have a person help you communicate with your boss in
person? 
Do you expect to use an sign interpreter to communicate with your boss? 
Do you expect to use real time captioning to communicate with your boss? 
Do you expect to use computer assisted note-taking to communicate
with your boss? 
 
Do you expect to have a person take notes of your conversation with your
boss for later reference? 
 
Do you expect to understand everything your boss communicates to you?
 
Are your expectations satisfied when communicating with your boss?
 

Work-Related Text Information

 
 
Do you expect to read more than other hearing people in order to
communicate with hearing people at work? 
 
Do you expect to read all the flyers and brochures in interoffice mail at
work? 
Do you expect to read all the broadcast email at work?
Do you expect to read work manuals relating at work?
 
Are your expectations for plenty of text information satisfied? 
 

Work-Related Training

 
 
Do you expect to know more than other hearing people in order to
communicate with hearing people at work? 
 
Do you expect to train yourself alone at work?
Do you expect to train yourself at home for work?
 
Do you expect to take work-related classes on company time?
Do you expect to take work-related classes on your own time?
 
Do you expect to have formal on-the-job training?
 
Do you expect to learn on the job about the industry that your work is in?
Do you expect to have a degree in the industry that your work is in?
 
Are your expectations for training satisfied?
 

Meeting Arrangements

 
 
Do you expect to have meetings at work?
Do you expect to have a quiet work environment to meet in?
Do you expect to be waived from attending meetings?
 
Do you expect to have face to face meetings at your desk? Do you expect
to have your own quiet room for your desk in order to meet with other
people? 
 
Do you expect to have small sized meetings (2-5 people) at a round table
in a quiet room? 
Do you expect to have small sized impromptu meetings (2-5 people) while
standing around in the hallways? 
Do you expect to have medium sized meetings (6-20 people) at a long table
in a quiet room? 
Do you expect to have medium sized meetings (6-20 people) with chairs
arranged in a circle? 
Do you expect to have medium sized meetings (6-20 people) with tables and
chairs arranged in a classroom style?
 
Do you expect to have medium sized impromptu meetings (6-20 people) while
standing around in the hallways? 
 
Do you expect to have large meetings (20-200 people) in a large room or an
auditorium? 
 
Are you expectations for meeting setup satisfied?
 

Meeting Communication and Accommodations

 
 
Do you expect to talk to people at the meeting?
Do you expect to sign to people at the meeting?
Do you expect to write to people at the meeting?
 
Do you expect to use an assistive listening device to listen to people at
the meeting? 
 
Do you expect to have a person help you communicate in the meeting?
Do you expect to use an sign interpreter to communicate in the meeting?
Do you expect to use real time captioning to communicate in the meeting?
 
Do you expect to use computer assisted note-taking to communicate in the
meeting? 
Do you expect to have a person take notes in the meeting for later
reference? 
 
Do you expect to understand everything communicated within the meeting?
 
Are your expectations for communicating within a meeting satisfied?
 

Telecommunication Accommodations At Work

 
 
Do you expect to have a regular phone even though you may not use it?
Do you expect to have a flasher for telephone rings?
Do you expect to have a TTY at work?
Do you expect to have a VCO phone at work?
Do you expect to have both a TTY and a VCO phone at work?
Do you expect to have a computer instead of a TTY for TTY calls?
Do you expect to have voice mail at work even though you may not use it?
Do you expect to have voice mail capable of handling TTY messages at work?
Do you expect to have the same capabilities to communicate over the phone
wires at work as you do at home? 
Do you expect to use a cellular phone at work? 
Do you expect to use a TTY-compatible cellular phone at work?
Do you expect to use other telecommunications technology at work? 
If so, please describe:
 
Are your expectations for accommodations for telecommunications at work
satisfied? 
 

Telecommunications Contact Between You and Your Client at Work

 
 
Do you expect your client to contact you at your work?
Do you expect your client to contact your boss to communicate information
you need for your job? 
Do you expect your client to use email directly with you to communicate
information you need for your job? 
Do you expect your client to page you when they need to communicate with
you? 
Do you expect your client to call your TTY through the relay service?
Do you expect your client to use the relay service to call your TTY?
Do you expect your client to have a TTY and to call your TTY directly?
 
Do you expect that your client wants to hear your voice?
Do you expect to save time with your client by using the Voice Carry Over
(VCO) option that relay services provide? 
 
Do you expect to understand everything your client communicates to you?
 
Are your expectations for client contact at work satisfied?
 

Telecommunications Contact From Your Boss When You Are At Home

 
 
Do you expect your boss to contact you at home?
Do you expect your boss to use a voice phone to call your voice phone at
home? 
Do you expect your boss to use a TTY to call your TTY at home?
Do you expect your boss to call the relay service to contact you on your
TTY at home? 
Do you expect your boss to page your beeper when you are at home? 
Do you expect your boss to email you at home?
Do you expect your boss to leave a voice message on your voice mail or
answering machine at home? 
Do you expect your boss to leave a TTY message on your TTY or your
TTY-compatible voice mail at home? 
 
Do you expect to understand everything your boss communicates to you at
home? 
 
Are your expectations for home contact from your boss satisfied?
 

Computer Room Personnel Telecommunications Contact When You Are At Home

 
Do you expect to be on-call at home for computer room problems at work? 
Do you expect the computer room personnel to use a voice phone to call
your voice phone at home? 
Do you expect the computer room personnel to use a TTY to call your TTY at
home? 
Do you expect the computer room personnel to call the relay service to
contact you on your TTY at home? 
Do you expect the computer room personnel to page your beeper when you are
at home?
Do you expect the computer room personnel to email you at home?
Do you expect the computer room personnel to leave a voice message on your
voice mail or answering machine at home? 
Do you expect the computer room personnel to leave a TTY message on your
TTY or your TTY-compatible voice mail at home? 
 
Do you expect to understand everything that the computer room personnel
communicates to you? 
 
Are your expectations for computer room personnel contact satisfied?
 

Telecommunications Contact for Business Travel

 
 
Do you expect to travel for business?
Do you expect to make calls while traveling for business?
Do you expect to use a portable laptop to communicate while traveling on
business? 
 
Are your expectations for business travel contact satisfied?
 

Employee Benefits

 
 
Do you expect to be accommodated for communication with a benefits
consultant at work about your employee benefits? 
 
Are your expectations for communication accommodation for employee
benefits satisfied? 
 

Work-Sponsored Activities

 
 
Do you expect to be accommodated for work parties at work?
Do you expect to be accommodated for work parties in public?
Do you expect to be accommodated for private work parties?
Do you expect to be accommodated for work fairs at work?
Do you expect to be accommodated for diversity group activities at work?
Do you expect to be accommodated for classes at work that not directly
related to work? 
 
Are your expectations for accommodation for work-sponsored activities
satisfied? 
 

Additional Questions that Came Up as a Result of Responses to the Survey:

Background on this First Question

 
 
Years ago in the early 90's, I had seen position advertisements for
computer programmers in the telecommunications field. These ads usually
required degrees or experience in both electrical engineering and computer
programming. 
 
In my experience as a professional computer programmer, I have seen
hearing computer programmers that had degrees in Accounting, Business
Management, Actuarial Science or other related financial fields. Some of
these computer programmers have only taken a few courses in computer
programming before being hired as a computer programmer. 
 
My question is along the same lines:
 
Do you expect to have another degree, other than the computer science (or
CIS) degree you already have, in order to communicate effectively with
your clients in your workplace? 
 
My second question is:
 
Do you expect to instruct your clients personally on how to use the
programs you worked on?