Strong Deaf Woman Struggles on Job
I have a problem with working.... I have been with this company for 10 years. I have taken the managers test and passed 5 times. They still won't give me a chance. I don't know why. But every 1 or 2 years they change managers around. And manager after manager they go from bad to worse. My problem is they all make jokes and fun of me for being hoh. I hate it. Everyday for the past 10 years! I am also blind in one eye and that is treated as a joke. I tell my boss, " I don't know why you hearing people think it is ok to laugh at someone elses' misfortune. And I darn sure don't know why you think you are better than me"! It just doesn' stop. And this company was voted one of the top 100 places to work in Fortune magazine. What should I do? Do I keep on doing this job. I am very strong and make almost top pay. And it is alot of heavy lifting. I am the only woman in this place that is this strong. Which I take pride in. I can beat all the men when it comes to doing the lifting. But what else can I do and still provide for my family? Please offer advice.
Then newest thing is that they are suddenly going to base your wages on job performance. So in other words, if I am making the maximum. In order to keep making what I am making, on each job evaluation you have to be scored on a rating system. If you maintain all high scores, you can keep your money, but if you cannot keep high scores in the each category they will lower your pay by .25 cents. Then on the next evaluation again the same thing. My boss told me it is pretty much inevitable that my pay will not stay the same because even he cannot maintain high scores. So my pay check will start going down. So now what is everyone suppose to do? How do we live on this mess? I sent away for information on becoming a veterinarian assistant but I don't know if this Stratford institue is ligitamate. I just don't know. Now I am being told at my work that I am too loud when I speak. But there are 2 other workers that do not wear hearing aids and do not have hearing problems that scream all the time. I tried to explain that my insurance does not cover new hearing aids and that one hearing aid has been broken for over 4 years. I have a hard enough time trying to pay my bills and can't even keep them up. So buying a new hearing aid is out of the question. I just seem to be getting more and more depressed. I just don't know if this world is worth staying in. I just don't know. If something did happen to me, would my family get my insurance and be better off. I just can't do that to them. I don't think they would forgive me. So in the meantime I just go on and pray ALOT I just don't know. I wish I knew what kind of job a hard of hearing person can do. I am very strong physically and I can pick up my 220 lb husband so lifting isn't a problem, It's hearing. What do you suggest? Please.
***
This is the answer I sent her:
That sounds like a cruel system of pay to me. I would be looking for another job, fast.
The only thing that I can think of is maybe you could go to your local community college to get training so you could find a better job? Have you talked to your local department of vocational rehabilitation to see if they would pay for you to get this training?
***
Does anyone have any better suggestions than what I suggested above?
Related: Helen Keller
Comments
I agree that this woman should be looking for another job, but I cannot help but wonder if she should also seek some legal advice. She seems to be experiencing harrassment in the workplace that is based solely on her physical condition and disability. In addition, she is working in what would be described as a ‘hostile workplace’, which may mean she is entitled to receive workman’s compensation for the psychological injuries she is experiencing.
Call this company on the carpet! It is outright harrassment! Get a lawyer involved, heck, get the media involved. They could help your cause a lot more than you think. No one in the Fortune 100, or 500 wants to be taken off the “it list.” Perhaps higher ups will take this kind of offence more seriously than the subordinates. Please find the courage and seek counsel and help yourself as well as others. This is just not right.
I am the owner of Communication Works! which was previously named Seattle Diversity Works! under HSDC (Hearing Speech Deafness Center). I have provided training to the workplace on how to improve deaf and hearing relations in the workplace for the last ten years. I would recommend sensitivity training along with bi-cultural mediatation which can help the manager/supevisor understand what communication really means. I can be reached at vickimoseley@comcast.net
Thank you,
Vicki Moseley
The Dept. of Vocational Rehab in your area may be able to pay for your new hearing aids. Mine were free at their cost of $3,000. In matters of employment law, most times a client fee is required. Call Marc P. Charmatz, Esq. and ask about possible free legal representation to the EEOC. He’s at 814 Thayer Ave., Suite 208, Silver Spring, MD 20910; Phone 301-587-7732. I hesitate to put his home address and phone number here, but if you can’t reach him, maybe ask Jamie to contact me. Also call your local School for the Deaf and ask if any of the instructors or adult students want to be a volunteer interpreter. I have a question: did you ever ask your coworkers to stop laughing at you and tell them how you expect to be treated? Adults on the job can be silly. Lighten up about it and tell them to stop it. At least you’ve told them you are hoh. I went for 20 years getting hearing jobs when actually I’m quite deaf (hoh). I’d take my hearing aids off and try hard to hear most of what the interviewer was saying combined with as much lip-reading as possible. I’d get the job and then hope no one noticed how deaf I was. Once or twice, one of the managers would say loudly outside my office door when they thought I couldn’t hear them: “You’re getting the deaf woman do the meeting minutes???”. Laughter followed and I had to shut my office door so I could laugh too. Ask management at your company to put it in writing as to why you’ve been passed over for your promotion. Most deaf and hoh people, as myself, are stronger than most. You’re smart, no doubt, or nobody would laugh at you. You can choose how you let people treat you. And if it’s still unacceptable, you have legal remedy. Put your complaint in writing to your management office regarding your coworker’s laughter and treatment of you. Also see if they are legally within their rights to change your pay after you’ve signed an employment agreement. I suggest you get away from these mean people and find another job as soon as possible where you can feel respected.
Seek counsel from a local agency even for mental health. The governmental agency mental health and mental retardation-dont let the name insult you–this agency is wonderful with resources. You can seek help even in your local church for support and just someone to talk to and listen to your concerns. Jobs are hard to come by and there will probably be problems no matter where you go; but talk even to the EEOC also; clearly this is issue for them to investigate further. GOd luck. Remember dont sweat the small stuff everything is small stuff…..
I’m hearing impaired and I know how it feel when it seem like people around you doesn’t take you seriously. I feel like you are being discriminated because you are deaf and you are a good worker. Before you look for another job you should talk to ceo or president of the company and if there are no solution then you should talk to vocational rehab and a lawyer to seek further actions. If we allow people to get away with it, they will keep doing it until some actions are taken.
Change job but get a new training at some school to help you to get a better job. I am 68 years old and teach Belly Dance and have been teaching for 35 years. Yes they do laugh at my expense but I do let them know thats enough. But the most important things is this, “Win them over to You because you are special!”
My heart goes out to you. I understand this situation all too well. This is straightforward job harassment. You are entitled to stick up for yourself here. I was in a similar situation, and when I got close to a nervous breakdown, I went to the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. This is part of the federal government and its services are free. Go to EEOC.gov. They assign one of their lawyers to your case when they determine that you have cause. Eventually we sued the company and I got a large settlement which allowed me to leave my job and tided me over until I found another one. Also the company had to undergo sensitivity training by EEOC representatives. What you should do immediately is get a small notebook and write down every time someone bothers you, any kind of nasty comment about your disability even, with the date, time, the person’s name, and exactly what happened. Log everything, because this constitutes evidence. Arrange a meeting with HR to inform them exactly what is happening and that you want HR to take action to prevent this harassment, and follow it up with a letter that repeats what you talked about, send it to your boss and HR, and keep a copy. You do NOT need to inform them that you have contacted the EEOC. In fact, if your company asks you if you are getting ready to sue, you don’t have to answer. Make sure that you include all of the things that you wrote about here. You can take a list of complaints in to HR so you won’t forget anything. When you have a record of the dates and events, send them to the EEOC to back up your claims. You should also write down the emotional effects; I wrote things like, I went home and cried all evening and coudn’t sleep. The lawyers will explain this all better than I can. I wish you the very best of luck. But you won’t need it because this is so outrageous that one day your company will be in big trouble, and you will be free to find a place where they treat people better. NO ONE ever should undergo such treatment on the job. This is why we now have laws. I also want to encourage you to know that none of this is your fault. You are not the one that has done anything wrong. One way they get away with this behavior is to try to make you feel that your disability makes you less important than them, which is simply not true. Fight those feelings hard. You are entitled to be treated fairly and decently. I wish you well.
awww im so sorry to hear the way your being treated, it makes me so angry how nasty people can be!
but God is with you otherwise you wouldnt have got through all this.
I agree with the other comments, i suggest you seek Legal advice a.s.a.p
Good luck & all the best for your future!
I have the same advice go to your local state vocational rehabilitation agency and tell them about the discrimination. They might be able to help with new hearing aids, I have gotten new aids from my state agency 3 times over the years. I have also gotten advice, counseling and help with a job search. Also there is help with tuition at the local colleges. The pay is not worth the things they put you through, since you also say you have trouble paying bills, it cannot be all that great! I suggest you also go places where they hire someone like vets assistents and find out if your hearing will cause a problkem with performing the job duties. We gotta be realistic. You might look into hospital work like radiology or medical technology. I worked as a med tech for 14 plus years and my hearing did not keep me from getting or keeping jobs in that field. I was just told recently even though I have lost most of the little hearing I did have that I would still get hired if my skills were up to date!
All of the advice here is good. One other thing about hearing aids, there’s now a program at www.audientalliance.com that helps people purchase new hearing aids. There are income requirements, though, but check it out.
Ck with places in your azrea that offer assistance or referral such as Jewish Family Services where i work or AS was said Vocational Rehab ect…Sounds like theese people you work with have no idea what your going through every day,they definatly need sesitivity training..Let me know if i can help here in FL..
This world is a cruel world, I agree, seek legal help asap. It may be that they are jealous, I mean you are stronger than some of the men. Anyway, you will be in my thoughts and prayers.
I understand what you are going thru for I have a mild hearing loss and can do thimgs better than most hearing people. The stigma that most handicap people face has been mental retardation. I have had two supervisors tell me that they thought I was mentally retarded and I am sure that other supervisors thought the same thing but I didn’t know it. You can either fight or give up and look for another job but if it were me I would stay and fight. If you want to become a vet tech that is fine but do not let them run you off. By the way I am a switchboard operator and that is a job that having a hearing loss one does not usually associate getting. Even hearing people get discriminated against. I hope this helps.
It is disappointing to learn that people are smallminded enough to sneer at disability of that magnitude. It seems the colleagues are extremely jealous of her achievements despite her severe handicap. I am never able to comprehend people who ridicule the disabled and disadvantaged. I went hearing-impaired on my job some years ago and have remained so and I have wonderfully pleasant memories of my former colleagues literally lending me their ears - in an extremely busy and high-stress environment.
Sometimes though your strengths and capabilities can bring undue pressure on the determined disabled person. Many people are by nature competitive and lapse into that selfish cover your ass mode that is so prevalent today.
Sounds like she needs to be in a new environment, one where colleagues are at least understanding and humane - even if they are competitive.
Voc. Rehab. for new hearing aid definitely. In Colorado, we pay a portion of the services if we’re employed - I got my aids free since I work only part-time.
AND - check with EEOC and an attorney about complaints of talking too loud and ask for accommodation like private office if your loudness is a problem!
And that pay change is totally weird!
Definitely check with Voc. Rehab. they helped me get new hearing aids.
And check on the legality of this pay change - that’s the weirdest thing I ever heard of!
And check with EEOC and/or an attorney about “accommodations” like getting yourself a private office so they don’t have to worry about your loud speech!
Best of luck - hang in there - and keep moving forward - one day at a time.
Its the cruel world.my dear i m also facing the same problem as u. nobody trust me. i do’nt get the work in office. now i m unable to cope this situation. my juniour get’s work but not me.. I hv confidence that i can do any work which i will get., but due to my hearing problem i can’t get..people laugh at me when i can’nt hear to them.. it very much disappointing to me..i realy sometimes want to sucide.i can’nt understand hw to cope with this situation as i hv to work for my living. neither i can quit nor to continue.. i living i heavy mentally stress life..