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.
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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.