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Research Proposal 1

Running head: RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Barriers to Deaf Employment

Corinna Adams

Western Washington University

Research Proposal 2

Introduction

When studying deaf and hard of hearing people, there are many issues to consider. For

one thing, they are a small population within the diverse United States. How small or how

prominent is hard to know because there has not been any viable way of collecting data on just

how many “deaf” people there are. Even the U.S. Census of 2000 grouped deaf people with

those who are blind in the disability section of the survey (Mitchell, 2005). However, even if

those who are deaf would have been differentiated from the blind, there are discrepancies on the

defining of the deaf populations, that is whether they are hard of hearing, completely deaf,

prelingualy deaf (lost hearing before learning language) and other self proclaimed categories

(Mitchell). The only system that seems to be able to categorize and record the deaf population is

the education system, which has to track deaf students for accommodations. Yet, once they

leave the school system there is little ways of finding out about deaf adults and their work. This

is of some concern because while in school deaf and hard of hearing students are provided

accommodations to aid in their learning and success but what they have to do once out of school

has not been studied as well.

There have been many studies done on barriers in educating the deaf but not on the way

deaf adults maneuver around barriers in the work environment (Punch, Hyde, & Creed, 2004,

and Simms, Rusher, Andrews & Coryell, 2008). Rogers (2008) reported that the unemployment

rate for the general population in the United States is between four and six percent, however the

deaf unemployment rate across the states is over 60 percent. This high rate that may be skewed

by the difficulties in tracking deaf employment, but even still it is clear that deaf unemployment

is much higher than the general public. Why is this? There are many partially explored theories

Research Proposal 3

ranging from inadequate accommodations to poor education. The present article will look into

some of these theories in an effort to better understand barriers to deaf employment.

Accommodations

There are gains being made in technology and legislation in favor of employing people

with disabilities. The Americans with Disability Act of 1990 (ADA) includes a range of rules to

protect people with disabilities from discrimination. Title one of the Act “requires employers

with 15 or more employees to provide qualified individuals with disabilities an equal opportunity

to benefit from the full range of employment-related opportunities available to others” which

means that people with disabilities must have a fair chance to employment including

accommodations to work proficiently (U.S. Department of Justice, 2005). Accommodations can

include but are not limited to, the use of an interpreter, teletypewriters (TTYs), E-mail, visual

emergency alert systems and other devices or interactions which can help a deaf or hard of

hearing person work in a hearing environment (Biser, Rubel, and Toscano, 2007, Foster,

MacLeod, 2003, National Association of the Deaf, 2009).

Many employers do follow through with these requirements but some do not. Interpreters

are expensive and the use of them can be confusing if the translation is not clear. Also they are

not practical for everyday use but mainly for events and meetings. The use of TTYs or really any

of these accommodations come with lag time which many employers or clients can get impatient

with (Foster, 2003). Yet these accommodations are what link the deaf employee with their work

environment and their safety. Deaf employees whose employers do not comply with the ADA

can file a complaint with the Department of Justice by writing a letter with information

pertaining to acts of discrimination, however because this is a busy governmental office the time

it takes for such paperwork to be looked over and filed can be discouraging (U.S. Department of

Research Proposal 4

Justice, n.d.). Furthermore the investigation and the need for documentation as well as time

limits of the violation can be taxing and a victimized deaf employee may find that it is not worth

the work to file the complaint (National Association of the Deaf, 2009).

Before the ADA the most effective legislation in aiding the employment of deaf and hard

of hearing people was the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. Under Section 503 of the this act the

government must use affirmative action to hire people with disabilities including equal access to

training and promotions (National Association of the Deaf, 2009, Rosengreen, Saladin, &

Hansmann, 2009). This act had the result of deaf people pouring into the public sector which is

now the utmost employer of deaf people. This is a positive but at the same time discouraging

because it means that the public sector of work is very competitive for deaf employment

(Rosengreen, Saladin, & hansmann, 2009). Even with the protection of ADA and the

encouragement of the Rehabilitation Act, many deaf adults struggle with “unemployment,

underemployment and as a result, low scocioeconomic status” (Jones, Ouellette and Kang, 2006,

p.26).

Education

Education is important to any person looking to find employment. It can be especially

deterring for a deaf person who along with not participating in a postsecondary education may

not have even received adequate K-12 education in the first place (Biser, Rubel & Toscano,

2007, Punch, Hyde and Creed, 2004, Simms, Rusher, Andrews and Coryell, 2008). Simms,

Rusher, Andrews and Coryell, (2008) performed a study with the purpose of discovering how

diverse the teaching workforce was in deaf education. Their interest was sparked by their belief

that deaf children are being “bottle necked” into unsuccessful learning environments partially

based on the gap of diversity from pupil to instructor. From when they are in preschool till high

Research Proposal 5

school most deaf students are taught by “hearing White teachers” (p. 394). The implication is

that the students not only suffer from the lack of cultural understanding but also lack of role

models reflecting their minority, both of which are “necessary for psychosocial growth and

academic success” (p. 394). Like a previous survey they cited, white teachers were the majority

with 91.3% of the 2,766 teachers who responded, and only 22.1% were deaf (Simms, Rusher,

Andrews and Coryell, 2008). They concluded that although there are many other reasons besides

the lack of ethnically diverse educators that deaf children can be lost to opportunity, the

importance of having such teachers will come into fruition “when language and culture becomes

more valued, the hiring of deaf teachers and teachers of color will naturally follow, due to the

pragmatic need to tap into their intelligence and their multilingual and multicultural talents” (p.

394). It stands to reason that if a child is not given that initial psychosocial growth tool to

academic success that they will not have those skills for success in the working world.

The idea that many issues related to deaf education come from the lack of relating role

models is important to look at but the main idea that can be taken by Simms, Rusher, Andrews

and Coryell is that deaf education is inadequate. With reading scores at or below the fifth-grade

level shown in over half deaf high school graduates, it seems this could dramatically affect the

employability of deaf adults (Cawthon, 2004 as sited in Simms, Rusher, Andrews & Coryell,

2008). Foster and MacLeod (2003) interviewed a number of deaf employees and one of them

stated “I think that the most important thing for deaf students is reading and writing skills” (p.

133). The interviewee went on to talk about how it was easiest for him to learn and to be clear on

directions through written works and he could only do that if he had adequate reading and

writing skills.

Research Proposal 6

This concern over reading and writing skills of deaf students and adult workers seem to

be an ongoing trend. Biser, Rubel and Toscano (2007) highlighted this in their article reporting

on an earlier study of deaf alumni and their employers. They warned in the article that poor

writing skills had the danger of labeling a deaf worker as “ignorant or illiterate and relegate them

into second-class citizenship” (p. 362). Knowing that many of the accommodations for deaf

employment are written word based, such a TTYs, E-mail and hand written notes it makes sense

that writing skills would be important. The survey they covered questioned the amount of writing

alumni of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) do in their careers. Of 81 who

responded 72 reported having to write on the job daily (p. 363). While this is a small sample of

people from mostly technical jobs, given the nature of deaf communication with the hearing

world it is not completely negated.

This movement toward writing being an everyday part of the job is reflective of the

American job industry moving from industrial to technical. These skills require more than just a

high school degree (Boutin and Punch, Hyde, & Creed) and more prose based. For some deaf

students who do not graduate or even those who do but are unsuccessful in finding work,

vocational rehabilitation can be the key to opening the door of opportunity.

Vocational Rehabilitation

Job placement can be hard to find even for those deaf adults who have college experience

and of course even harder for those who do not. Options are limited and many turn to vocational

rehabilitation services which are carried out through the Rehabilitation Services Administration

(RSA) in the U.S. Department of Education. Five percent or 33,739 of closed cases in the VR

program, nationwide in 2006 involved persons who were deaf or hard of hearing. VR services

can include job skills training, counseling, research and maintenance along with a number of

Research Proposal 7

other services to aid clients with disabilities. Furthermore VR counselors aid in the retention of

the jobs through on the job counseling and helping to assure ADA accommodations are provided

(Boutin, 2009). Vocational Rehabilitation programs are key to helping deaf workers find and

retain employment, which makes them part of the possible solution to these problem barriers.

Social Interaction

Along with the education and job placement another barrier which arises in much of the

literature surrounding deaf employment is the obstacle in social interaction. It is great that there

are aids to help deaf and hard of hearing workers, but their effectiveness is only as good as their

acceptance by coworkers. Some studies have focused on the interaction of deaf workers, their

peers and superiors. The best results come from coworkers on all levels coming together to

compromise and communicate effectively, yet when these differences are met with negative

views and ignorance it “can produce disastrous results for deaf and hearing alike” (Foster &

MacLeod, 2004). One interviewee of Foster and MacLeod’s (2003) study mentioned how his

coworkers would be frustrated by the delay in the communication using the TTY, others

accounted the uncomfortable feeling of being left out of “small talk” and another about missing

out on office humor because jokes were not interpreted right. These stories all speak about

isolation.

This isolation could have started back in a deaf person’s earlier school career and stunted

their interpersonal skills developing before they even enter the workplace (Rosengreen, Saladin

& Hansmann, 2009). Isolation can lead to depression, resentment and overall bad feelings about

being in the workplace which of course can have negative effects on the likelihood of a deaf

person retaining their job. Empathy trainings and the introduction of sign language or Deaf

Culture concepts have been reported to ease the feelings of isolation but it is up to all of the

Research Proposal 8

players involved to make these changes (Foster & Macleod, 2004, and Rosengreen, Saladin &

Hansmann, 2009).

Conclusion

Whether it be the lack of quality education, social cultural differences, access to

accommodations or some other matter, it is clear that there are barriers to deaf employment.

Although they each seem to have their individual fixes, together they build up a huge wall which

deaf employees must scale for career success. While each of these theories have been examined

individually it would greater to know how they play out in a deaf person’s day to day life. The

deaf population can be elusive, but their problems are real and like other minority groups

struggling to rise up. They deserve to be heard.

Research Suggested

In order to obtain such answers more research is needed to find out what deaf people

around the country actually face. Foster and MacLeod’s (2004) work seems to be the closet to

getting ethnographic data and actual interviews from deaf employees. The research was limited

however, by the specifically small sample of alumni from NTID, who are educated deaf workers

in an area particularly sensitive to Deaf culture because of the concentration of deaf students in

the Rochester area. It would be beneficial to find out what challenges deaf workers tackle in

areas where Deaf communities are more sparse face and what they do to rise above. Is vocational

rehabilitation the only solution? It would also be significant to see what kind of employment deaf

adults tend to be involved in. Are they more likely to be found doing office work, industrial jobs

or some other field?

Research Proposal 9

Data

This research project has many variables. One such variable is the range of

“deafness” one is considered to be. This is important for the sake of correlating the

amount of or frequent use of accommodations the person requires. Other independent

variables for this research would include age, sex, education and location. Possible

dependent variables would be job field, duration of unemployment experienced, duration

of job retention, and feelings of isolation. Other factors to be considered would be the

overall feelings of support experienced by deaf and hard of hearing employees. All of this

data would be useful in trying to find correlations between obstacles deaf adults face and

their likelihood in finding or keeping a job.

Sample

The ideal sample will consist of 1000 or more deaf adults between the ages of 18-

60 throughout the United States. The sample would be a broad mix of employment fields,

education levels, socioeconomic status and ages. This broad sample is needed to increase

the external validity of the findings. In other words this research is an attempt of

representing the employment struggles of deaf adults throughout the United States and

thus far needs a large broad sample to increase the ability of generalizing the results to

the general deaf adult population.

Methods

Actual tools in collecting data would include a mid-length survey of 20-25

questions (Appendix A) and ethnographic interviews. In an attempt to reach out to the

target population the first place the agencies who work with such as interpreting agencies,

Research Proposal 10

vocational rehabilitation service agencies, colleges who serve larger deaf populations and

even perhaps high schools. There are also a number of nonprofit agencies providing

specialized deaf services such as Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency of

California which could be contacted in aiding the collection of data (DCARA, 2009). If

these organizations had interest in the survey and results, meetings would be held about

how to disperse the surveys and lessons in confidentiality when collecting the surveys.

Best practice is that each qualifying person who uses these services would be given the

option of filling out the survey, if they did fill out a survey once the helping agency

received it back it would be required to go into an envelope right away without being

reviewed by the surveyor. Exceptions to this rule would be if the surveyee was illiterate

or preferred to have the questions asked. Surveys would be dispersed and collected over

a six month period.

Interviews would be done more deliberately. Each of these agencies work with

deaf adults who may or not be working, so it would make sense that they might hear

stories from their clients about their work experiences. Partnering agencies would be

asked to perform interviews for those clients who would like to be interviewed. It would

make more sense for each agency to be the ones to interview the people who chose to

participate because there would already be a relationship between them. This is also a

cultural aspect because deaf people tend to be weary of “hearies” or people not directly

involved in their culture and way of being. Interviews would provide space for deaf

adults to talk about their experiences in trying to find work, workplace environments and

interaction between them and their leaders. Interviews would give more specific


examples of the challenges faced and give more of a personal human connection to the

results other than just numbers.

Limitations

One issure related to the research methods and samples, is that given the nature of

the Deaf Community being spread out into tight pockets of people, random selection

would be a limiting factor. Even if the surveys are distributed in a random fashion the

response demographics could be clumped into particular categories, such as only getting

results from deaf adults in certain locations and or age ranges. Furthermore, even with

training sessions for surveyors there is no guarantee that partnering agencies will follow

specifications in giving out and receiving surveys or interviews. Yet this method should

maximize return rates of surveys more than a broad mailed survey. Also it is being

assumed that deaf people involved with these agencies will be more likely to feel

comfortable talking to them about their experiences, but this may not be true.

Furthermore, the main weakness of this whole project is its reliability in getting a high

response from an elusive population. These weaknesses are important to take note of but

overall it is sufficient to make some mistakes and brainstorm how to fix them in the next

project.

Significance & Wrap Up

The results of this research project should provide a picture of many correlating

factors when it comes to deaf employment. Some correlations expected are the relation

between levels of deafness and feelings of isolation; a relation between the use and

availability of accommodations and feelings of isolation; and a relation between location


and job retention to name a few. These results will be significant not just for the interest

of those who are involved in the study of deaf culture and obstacles but also to those who

work to help people who are deaf find work. This information could also be important for

deaf adults themselves to know and consider when they are looking for work.

In addition, the results could aid in solutions for obstacles. As with much work

concerning minorities and their employment, evidence is needed in presenting a problem

and to help explain possible solutions. For example, what if there is no correlation

between feelings of isolation and accommodations? What does that mean for how

isolation of a deaf employee is resolved? Perhaps that would mean that employers would

have to look for other ways of aiding a deaf person into feeling more included other than

giving them another communication aid. It would be expected to find other practical

implications like this throughout the findings. The main result of this survey would

indeed to give voice to the population and a means to open up conversation for solutions.


Appendix A

1. City: State:

2. Age: Male/female

3. Self Defined level of Deafness (Ex: Hard of Hearing, completely deaf, partially deaf, deaf in only

ear, etc):

4. Do you use/have

a. Cochlear implant

b. Hearing aids

5. Ethnicity :

a. White/Caucasian

b. Asian

c. African American

d. Pacific Islander

e. Latin American/ Hispanic

f. Other:

6. Communication medium (one or more)

a. ASL/ other language sign

b. Lip reading/Voice

c. Other please describe:

7. Education Level

a. Some High School or bellow

b. High School Diploma

c. Some College


d. BA

e. MBA

f. Doctorate

8. Field of work

a. Industrial

b. Food Service

c. Janitorial

d. Public Service (Government employee: Mail services, etc)

e. Support Staff (Reception, secretarial, etc)

f. Technical/computer support

g. White Collar (Corporate, etc)

h. Other (please explain):

i. Unemployed (skip #7)

9. Level of job

a. Entry level

b. Supervisor/ Lead

c. Manager

d. CEO/higher

10. Related to work: Frequency of use of (please circle one in each letter category)

a. Professional interpreter

Daily Often Occasionally (1-2 a month) Sometimes Never

b. TTY/ Text Messaging/ Instant Messaging/ Email


c. Written Notes



d. Video conferencing


e. Close Captioning


f. Other (Please Explain):

11. How accessible are these accommodations in your workplace (Describe in your own words):

a. Professional interpreter

b. TTY/ Text Messaging/ Instant Messaging/ Email

c. Written Notes

d. Video conferencing

e. Close Captioning

12. Feelings of isolation in the work place

a. From general company


b. From Supervisor/Boss



c. From coworkers


d. From customers


13. How important is written language to your job?

Very Important Important Slightly Important Not important N/A

14. How long was your last period of unemployment?

a. Have just entered work force

b. 0-6 months

c. 7-12 months

d. More than 13 months

e. Have exited the workforce (retired, disability, illness, etc)

15. Have you ever used Vocational Rehabilitation services or another employment agency (circle

one)?

a. VR

b. Other:

16. In general, explain how confident you are in your workplace, or in finding a job?

17. Would you be interested in sharing your employment experiences as a deaf adult in the United

States? Please leave your contact information if yes.

a. Yes/ No

b. Name:

c. Email:

d. Phone- Please indicate whether to call directly or by text:


References

Biser, E., Rubel, L., & Toscano, R. M. (2007). Bending the rules: When deaf writers leave

college. American Annals of the Deaf. 2007(152), 361-367.

Boutin, D. L. (2009). The impact of college training and vocational rehabilitation services on

employment for consumers with hearing loss. Journal for Professionals Networking for

Excellence in Service Delivery with Individuals who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.

2009.(42), 73-89.

Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency. (2009). Home page. Retrieved from:

http://www.dcara.org/

Foster, S., & MacLeod J. (2003). Deaf people at work: Assessment of communication among

deaf and hearing persons in work settings. International Journal of Audiology.2003(42),

128-139.

Jones, E. G., Ouellette, S. E., & Kang Y. (2006). Perceived stress among deaf adults. American

Annals of the Deaf. 2006(151), 25-31.

Mitchell, R. E. (2005, February 15). How many deaf people are in the United States? Retrieved

from: http://gri.gallaudet.edu/Demographics/deaf-US.php

National Association of the Deaf. (2009). Discrimination and reasonable accommodations.

Retrieved from: http://www.nad.org/issues/employment/discrimination-and-reasonable-

accommodations

Punch, R., Hyde, M., & Creed, P. A. (2004). Issues in the school-to-work transition of hard of

hearing adolescents. American Annals of the Deaf. 2004(149), 28-38.

Rogers, J. (2008). Unemployment rates in the deaf community. Retrieved from:


http://www.netsignnews.com/Opinion_-_Discussion/

Unemployment_Rates_In_The_Deaf_Community.php

Rosengreen, K. M., Saladin, S. P., & Hansmann, S. (2009). Differences in workplace behavior

expectations between deaf workers and hearing employees. Journal for Professionals

Networking for Excellence in Service Delivery with Individuals who are Deaf and Hard

of Hearing. 2009(42), 130-151.

Simms, L., Rusher, M., Andres, J. F., & Coryell, J. (2008). Apartheid in deaf education:

Examining workforce diversity. American Annals of the Deaf. 2008(153), 384-395.

United States. Department of Justice. Civil Rights Division. Disability Rights Section. (2005). A

guide to disability rights laws. Washington DC: Disability Rights Section. Retrieved

from: http://www.ada.gov/cguide.htm#anchor62335

United States. Department of Justice. Civil Rights Division. Disability Rights Section. (n.d.).

How to file a Title III complaint. Washington DC: Disability Rights Section. Retrieved

from: http://www.ada.gov/t3compfm.htm

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