Jobs for the deaf

ships-cat

Flux_capacitor wrote: »

What is MLM?

Multi Level Marketing or Networking Marketing, not sure if I can quote company names on here (Advertising? Still a newbie myself).

Flux_capacitor_2

ships-cat wrote: »

Multi Level Marketing or Networking Marketing, not sure if I can quote company names on here (Advertising? Still a newbie myself).

Can you PM me please?

Runnybabbit

Hi, As one deaf person to another, there is nothing stopping you going to your local job centre plus - speak to a DEA (Disability Employment Advisor), you don't have to be unemployed to use this service, they are really helpful too - good luck and let me know how you get on.

Flux_capacitor_2

Thanks for that - I will pop in and see them

painted_lady

How about using the deafness to your advantage? I know there is a huge demand for fluent users of BSL to teach it, it pay £25 an hour upwards, but there is such a shortage of fluent users that you can probably demand your own fee. I have done the basic BSL/makaton course at work and we were fully taught by a totally deaf tutor who used only BSL/pictures to teach us, it was amazing and I think they fact she was deaf was certainly advantageous to us, giving us an insight into the deaf community.

Flux_capacitor_2

I do not know BSL - I rely totally on lip reading and the patience of people around me. I would like to learn BSL and asked my employer to allow me to take a course for 2 huors a week but they would not allow it. That was a few years ago so I might ask again.

tyllwyd

I was re-reading this thread, and I couldn't help thinking that maybe it is coming from the wrong direction - instead of thinking that you are deaf, and therefore what jobs can you do, why don't you start by listing your skills, interests, experience. Then you could have a think of what jobs you could do, or might be interested in, and go from there to think whether they are practical for you. You say that you work in IT - that is pretty general, so depending on what skills you have, there must be computer-based jobs that it would be possible to do with limited hearing. Otherwise, if you just start from the fact of being deaf, you are in danger of limiting your options to the lowest common denominator.

Having said that, have you any interest in writing? I'm a freelance proofreader/copyeditor, and thinking about it, I very seldom talk to anyone about work nowadays - it's all e-mail. Anyone will tell you that it is very difficult to get into publishing-type jobs, but it might be one of your options.

tyllwyd

Another thing that occurred to me - if you were happy to be quite cynical about it, why not seek out jobs with employers who might be looking to 'tick the box' to demonstrate how they are supporting employees with disabilities - maybe the local council, or bigger organisations who want their equal opportunities statistics to look good. I can easily believe that the disability discrimination legislation isn't enough to prevent you coming across prejudice, so maybe you need to try to make it useful to you in a more roundabout way.

Horace

Have you tried looking at the civil service gateway for jobs? This can be useful (sorry, I dont have their web address but am sure if you google it, you can get it that way). Look for employers with the Positive about Disabled logo because they for the most part tend not to discriminate. Also when working, have you thought about contacting Access to Work? They can help with support etc. e.g. if you were at a meeting, you wouldn;t necessarily be able to follow everything that was said, so in that instance you would have a notetaker. I have a few friends who are deaf - some wear hearing aids which are useful to a point but they still rely on notetakers.
As mentioned before, go to the jobcentre and ask to speak to a DEA - as they will be able to help you. Try contacting The Shaw Trust - they offer help, advice and training to disabled people and I know that they work closely with the deaf community.

Hope this helps and good luck.

Flux_capacitor_2

Thanks for your replies. There are a lot of positive things coming out of this thread. I am pleasantly surprised at the number of responses even. You are correct in that IT covers a large general area. I have been in IT for 17 years now and have been deaf for most of them. The main areas of my work are user support and network administration. I have more specific knowledge of barcoding systems and implimenting warehousing solutions but I am not a programmer. I do build and repair PC's and design webpages in my spare time but there is little of that work around at present. I admit I have used the deafness as an 'excuse' before, and it is easy to fall into that trap but I am trying to avoid doing it.