We should practice what we preach

I had an interesting experience the other day. I was watching three people in a cafe – it was clear one was a deaf person, the other was her hearing line manager and the third was the interpreter (how do I know this? body language & type of interaction, but that’s another story). The manager talked most of the time but it was clear she wanted the deaf person to talk and offer her opinions. She (the deaf staff member) and the interpreter looked at each other the whole time and there was very little eye contact with the manager. Anyone observing and not being aware of who was who, would simply have seen two friends chatting with the third person slightly out of the loop. We (as deaf people) would be furious if people left us out of the loop eg: the manager and the interpreter talking to each other and yes this is exactly what we often do ourselves – leave the hearing person out! How can we hope to progress in the workplace if this is what we do? Just a thought.

(PS : by the way, I did not recognise any of the three people )