I had an employee for four years that was deaf. Deafness came for him at an early age due to a very advanced infection - I don't recall, but, perhaps Spinal Meningitis. Possibly able to get the cochlear implant, but, doctors gave it a very low chance for success. It was thought he would never walk, he never went to a special school. He could read lips well and could verbalize some things.
As an employer, it wasn't too bad. He telecommuted, so, most conversations were over ICQ. However, at times dealing through Florida Relay was troublesome. He did go to Linux and PHP user groups from time to time, but, mostly to meet people for contact later. He was a T9 SMS rocket. At times, communicating very complex thoughts when we were face to face ended up with me typing in a terminal window or writing on a legal pad. We didn't meet face to face frequently, and I did learn some ASL - only to find out that he didn't know ASL. He got into his late 30s-early 40s without ever using ASL and it didn't seem to bother him.
Interviewing him face to face was a little difficult, but, I brought pen and paper as I had dealt with deaf clients in the past while consulting. I had a prepared offer letter with me - just needed to fill in the amount.
We communicated quite a bit over ICQ about non work-related issues and he never really seemed to want to change much. He just wanted to work in a small office or out of his home, collect a paycheck, play xbox/ps3 and that was that.
So, the fact that you want to do something puts you a step ahead in the game. Many people, deaf or not, don't like groups. In fact, I would bet a large proportion of the readers here resist groups except with very like-minded people. I think ambition outweighs shyness. The desire to succeed will push you to do things that you might feel are initially uncomfortable, but, after a while, you'll adapt.
To make an idea a reality, it should be no different between us. You need to design your MVP (Minimum Viable Product), potentially code it, get people interested and using it. On the Internet, most communication with clients isn't verbal. Working in a pairs environment or finding a partner that will work with you might be a little more challenging, but, I would suspect you should really have that much difficulty. I know plenty of people that intensely dislike talking on the phone and prefer instant messaging, email, IRC, etc.
At the point it comes time to pitch your idea to get further funding, you will probably hit a roadblock that will be much more difficult. With Florida Relay, it was very difficult to detect passion - and by passion I mean the belief in an idea, the excitement of discovering a new solution, etc. Investors use verbal cues to detect how well you understand an idea or how well you'll be able to adapt to change or how much you believe in the idea. A translator just might not convey that as well which means your idea probably needs to be more technically sophisticated, documented, or thought out.
I don't really think you'll run into too many issues that any other reader here isn't going to encounter. Get your idea together, write a skeleton document, figure out what it takes to get from point A to B, develop an MVP yourself or with someone else, launch it, figure out where to go from there.
Wow, the early parts sound pretty much like except I eventually decided I wanted a bigger challenge beyond games and something more realistic and balanced (sometimes), reality.
I actually liked groups, I really do. You can see me sometimes chatting in groups online. Unfortunately, due to my deafness, it's keeping me back from some groups unless there's unlimited time and understanding. I even bombed some (important!) group interviews because of time constraints.
I'm guessing Florida Relay is the text-relay service? I was so excited to hear about something like this and when I tried it on two mates, the first thought it was a prank and immediately hung up. The second kind of knew it was me but said it was like talking to a cold person. This made me fear that even seeking employment is difficult since I can't do phone interviews or followup calls without creeping them out. So I try to emphasise how great I am, just have some initial difficulties with phones (I dislike how a lot of entry level jobs in IT require phone use).
I've actually been working on the MVP (prototype) for some time, it's not quite what I want it to be but I agree it's a good start.
Florida Relay is a text-relay service. The first time I dealt with a relay service, they took 30 seconds to explain how it worked. From my standpoint, it was pretty easy to remember to say, 'go ahead' at the end of a phrase, but, often times, we were in-sync enough that I would get halfway through and would be alerted that he was typing. Usually Relay was an exceptional case, i.e. I was driving somewhere and SMS or ICQ wasn't possible. It did mean that he couldn't handle incoming tech support calls, but, 95% of our support calls came in across tickets, livehelp or ICQ (at the time). I would agree, the people that handle the relay service are almost robotic and often female.
We did have clients that never knew he was deaf and were shocked to find out. I think one time he was working with a client, it was somewhat involved and they requested his number so they could talk with him direct to address an issue.
As far as employment goes, I believe some US employers write intentionally vacuous job requirements to exclude groups of people: Must be able to lift 150 pounds, front-line phone support, ability to distinguish colors, other tasks as assigned.
Many employers look for reasons not to hire someone... anything that makes you different can be an impediment. Regrettable, but, it happens frequently.
However, if you have the skills, I don't think most employers would be creeped out and would be willing to conduct a phone interview over an instant messaging platform. If you've got the skills, a decent employer won't have a problem with accommodating your circumstances.
> This made me fear that even seeking employment is difficult since I can't do phone interviews or followup calls without creeping them out.
When I have a phone interview, I tell them I'm deaf and people are usually happy to do it over IM.
Text relay is iffy, especially if it's the interviewer's first time using it. I would never use video relay for a technical interview since the interpreter won't be familiar with the terminology.
Phone interviews bother me too. I am pretty sure I come through a little dimmer because I often ask the question to be repeated. It never occurred to me to prevent a potential misconception by letting the interviewer know that I have difficulty in hearing.
Comments
I had an employee for four years that was deaf. Deafness came for him at an early age due to a very advanced infection - I don't recall, but, perhaps Spinal Meningitis. Possibly able to get the cochlear implant, but, doctors gave it a very low chance for success. It was thought he would never walk, he never went to a special school. He could read lips well and could verbalize some things.
As an employer, it wasn't too bad. He telecommuted, so, most conversations were over ICQ. However, at times dealing through Florida Relay was troublesome. He did go to Linux and PHP user groups from time to time, but, mostly to meet people for contact later. He was a T9 SMS rocket. At times, communicating very complex thoughts when we were face to face ended up with me typing in a terminal window or writing on a legal pad. We didn't meet face to face frequently, and I did learn some ASL - only to find out that he didn't know ASL. He got into his late 30s-early 40s without ever using ASL and it didn't seem to bother him.
Interviewing him face to face was a little difficult, but, I brought pen and paper as I had dealt with deaf clients in the past while consulting. I had a prepared offer letter with me - just needed to fill in the amount.
We communicated quite a bit over ICQ about non work-related issues and he never really seemed to want to change much. He just wanted to work in a small office or out of his home, collect a paycheck, play xbox/ps3 and that was that.
So, the fact that you want to do something puts you a step ahead in the game. Many people, deaf or not, don't like groups. In fact, I would bet a large proportion of the readers here resist groups except with very like-minded people. I think ambition outweighs shyness. The desire to succeed will push you to do things that you might feel are initially uncomfortable, but, after a while, you'll adapt.
To make an idea a reality, it should be no different between us. You need to design your MVP (Minimum Viable Product), potentially code it, get people interested and using it. On the Internet, most communication with clients isn't verbal. Working in a pairs environment or finding a partner that will work with you might be a little more challenging, but, I would suspect you should really have that much difficulty. I know plenty of people that intensely dislike talking on the phone and prefer instant messaging, email, IRC, etc.
At the point it comes time to pitch your idea to get further funding, you will probably hit a roadblock that will be much more difficult. With Florida Relay, it was very difficult to detect passion - and by passion I mean the belief in an idea, the excitement of discovering a new solution, etc. Investors use verbal cues to detect how well you understand an idea or how well you'll be able to adapt to change or how much you believe in the idea. A translator just might not convey that as well which means your idea probably needs to be more technically sophisticated, documented, or thought out.
I don't really think you'll run into too many issues that any other reader here isn't going to encounter. Get your idea together, write a skeleton document, figure out what it takes to get from point A to B, develop an MVP yourself or with someone else, launch it, figure out where to go from there.
Wow, the early parts sound pretty much like except I eventually decided I wanted a bigger challenge beyond games and something more realistic and balanced (sometimes), reality.
I actually liked groups, I really do. You can see me sometimes chatting in groups online. Unfortunately, due to my deafness, it's keeping me back from some groups unless there's unlimited time and understanding. I even bombed some (important!) group interviews because of time constraints.
I'm guessing Florida Relay is the text-relay service? I was so excited to hear about something like this and when I tried it on two mates, the first thought it was a prank and immediately hung up. The second kind of knew it was me but said it was like talking to a cold person. This made me fear that even seeking employment is difficult since I can't do phone interviews or followup calls without creeping them out. So I try to emphasise how great I am, just have some initial difficulties with phones (I dislike how a lot of entry level jobs in IT require phone use).
I've actually been working on the MVP (prototype) for some time, it's not quite what I want it to be but I agree it's a good start.
Cheers
Florida Relay is a text-relay service. The first time I dealt with a relay service, they took 30 seconds to explain how it worked. From my standpoint, it was pretty easy to remember to say, 'go ahead' at the end of a phrase, but, often times, we were in-sync enough that I would get halfway through and would be alerted that he was typing. Usually Relay was an exceptional case, i.e. I was driving somewhere and SMS or ICQ wasn't possible. It did mean that he couldn't handle incoming tech support calls, but, 95% of our support calls came in across tickets, livehelp or ICQ (at the time). I would agree, the people that handle the relay service are almost robotic and often female.
We did have clients that never knew he was deaf and were shocked to find out. I think one time he was working with a client, it was somewhat involved and they requested his number so they could talk with him direct to address an issue.
As far as employment goes, I believe some US employers write intentionally vacuous job requirements to exclude groups of people: Must be able to lift 150 pounds, front-line phone support, ability to distinguish colors, other tasks as assigned.
Many employers look for reasons not to hire someone... anything that makes you different can be an impediment. Regrettable, but, it happens frequently.
However, if you have the skills, I don't think most employers would be creeped out and would be willing to conduct a phone interview over an instant messaging platform. If you've got the skills, a decent employer won't have a problem with accommodating your circumstances.
Hopefully we'll be reading about your MVP soon.
> This made me fear that even seeking employment is difficult since I can't do phone interviews or followup calls without creeping them out.
When I have a phone interview, I tell them I'm deaf and people are usually happy to do it over IM.
Text relay is iffy, especially if it's the interviewer's first time using it. I would never use video relay for a technical interview since the interpreter won't be familiar with the terminology.
Phone interviews bother me too. I am pretty sure I come through a little dimmer because I often ask the question to be repeated. It never occurred to me to prevent a potential misconception by letting the interviewer know that I have difficulty in hearing.