Advice for deaf professionals
Stress is now recognised as a killer. Millions of working days are lost as a result of stress and relationships are damaged, in some cases, irretrievably due to stress. Permanent ill health or even death can occur from stress.
But what causes stress? For many deaf and hard of hearing people, the lack of good communication is a high stress factor. Poor attitudes on the part of hearing people also causes anger and stress. Lack of access to information is a big contributor to stressful situations for deaf people.
For deaf professionals, stress can be magnified as they are expected to deal with all these issues and still behave as a model professional.
Deaf professionals often encounter poor attitudes from hearing colleagues – whispering campaigns about “not being good enough”, “spending money on extra equipment” or “buying interpreters”.
Sometimes, the colleagues demean the deaf colleague in front of lower status staff leading to other staff losing respect for the deaf colleague. An example can be a colleague talking as if the deaf person is not there.
Another example is a hearing colleague openly showing on their faces what they think of the deaf colleague – sneering, impatience, boredom – which has the effect of angering the deaf person.
But what to do ? If you firmly request the colleague not to do it, invariably they claim it was a joke. If you get angry and show it – you have a “chip on your shoulder”. If you do nothing, you become a doormat and others will have no respect for you.
Communicating with hearing people is often hard – many hearing people don’t speak clearly, refuse to learn to sign or are embarrassed and look away which makes it difficult to understand what they are saying.
Sometimes with communication there are misunderstandings and mistakes can happen. A lot of goodwill and tolerance is needed on both sides, but when you are a deaf professional, you are expected to do the job. It is very easy to lose your self-esteem, which adds to the stress.
At other times, the lack of access to information means you are struggling to keep up with what’s happening. Trying to catch a train to get to an appointment on time is made much worse when there are no visual indicators working.
If you are driving to a meeting and you are stuck in a traffic jam, often you can do nothing but sit there. Some deaf professionals have a portable minicom and mobile phone to solve this but many don’t or can’t
Arriving at a meeting to find the loop system isn’t working and you have to make an instant decision whether to discuss it with the chairman or retire gracefully can add to the anxiety. Interpreters that don’t do a job very well can also affect your performance.
Some deaf professionals find themselves continually being passed over for promotion or given less important work despite being as good or often, being better than their hearing colleagues. It is hard not to feel resentful and angry about being underemployed.
Being a deaf professional can definitely lead to high levels of stress. The good news is that there are many more deaf professionals around than there were five years ago. It is far easier not to feel alone, and there are more opportunities to share feelings and also to find solutions to combat stress. There are also courses that help to manage stress.
The courses won’t eliminate communication problems or stop poor attitudes, but by enabling professionals to control their stress levels, they are more likely to work out how to solve the problem. Stress often stops clear thinking so it is vital to manage it. One’s happiness and good health may be at stake.
Written by Paul Redfern – freelance writer
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