Reasons why companies wont hire deaf people
When you apply for job online, you usually find the statement somewhere on the career section site that says "We don't discriminate against persons with regard to gender, sexual orientation, race, disability, etc...". The reality is something else when an employer find out job applicant is deaf, they look for excuses not to hire that person. They are very good at talking around the issue simply because they don't want to be sued. As far as they know about a law especially the ADA (American with Disabilities Act), they can just say they hired someone else that is more qualified than the deaf applicant in fear of being sued. They can be real sneaky about it.
The real reason the employers refuse to hire deaf applicants is because they are not willing to pay for a sign language interpreter to interview with a deaf applicant. They do not want to pay for working with the hired deaf applicant for few days with an interpreter to settle into the job during training period. The interpreters charge employers $75 to $125 or even higher per hour. The employers do not want to waste their money on interpreters if deaf employees don't last longer on the jobs. It's sad but true.
Put yourself in the shoes of those employers, what would you do if you have to choose between a qualified deaf applicant and qualified hearing applicant? If you really don't want to spend any money on a job applicant for any reasonable accommodations, you would go with the able-bodied applicant. If you can't handle or are unsure what to do with a deaf person, you would feel more comfortable to go with the hearing one.
Another reason is the communication difficulty and telephone culture. Employers may not hire the deaf applicants if they are only relying on sign language and not able to use speech communication with other hearing employees and supervisors. The employers who work in a fast-paced environment may not have time to write the notes back and forth between them and deaf employees. Employers highly value verbal communication in understanding and feedback among employees, especially involved with paying clients and customers. Most companies are revolved around telephoning people all the times. Deaf applicants do not hear well on the telephone and would have to relay on the emailing on the company computers to communicate with someone. Employers want instant feedback by telephone and do not always have time to read hundreds of emails a day from other people.
Obviously, it is wrong to deny deaf applicants the opportunity to seek employment with companies and it's also wrong to deny them the opportunity to demonstrate their skills and experiences to employers. Deaf people are capable to do everything except hear. There are other better ways to communicate like emailing or texting with employees. However, when they hire a deaf person, it's because of the tax credits or because she or he must possess special abilities or skills that hearing applicant doesn't have.
If you are deaf and still waiting for someone to hire you, you are wasting your time. Especially in today's economy, this is going to take a long time for you to either get back on track or get your first job. There are millions of unemployed people in the United States, so it would be harder to compete against the hearing ones. If you are still working with vocational rehabilitation or state employment services, don't count on them because they are always finding you stocking or other low paying jobs. As hard as it is, you would have to be really aggressive to find a good paying job.
Instead of just being a job hunter, you can do something you really enjoy. If you have a degree in graphic design, you can start a little business to design logos for your clients.
Market your skills to potiental clients on social networking sites like twitter or facebook. You can also create your LinkedIn account to connect with the right people. If you are really a good photographer, you can start selling photos to greeting card companies like Hallmark. There are many things you can do as long as you have a passion for what you do. I'm sure you have a lot of great ideas to start a new career even if you don't have a college degree!
