Juliet England: Job hunting with a hearing loss

In recent weeks, my thoughts have been turning to either swapping freelancing for a full-time job, or combining self-employment with part-time work.

The statistics for those of us with a hearing loss do not make for especially rosy reading. Within the last year or two, research from recruitment website Total Jobs, carried out in conjunction with five deaf charities, found that more than half (56%) had experienced discrimination. Up to a quarter had even left a job because they found the working environment in which they found themselves too difficult.

Nearly three-quarters (72%) had received no support in finding work. Meanwhile, nearly one in five (19%) revealed they hadn’t told their employer about their hearing loss.

Separate research from Action on Hearing Loss, published at the start of this year and called Working for Change, found a similar number (18%) had an employer who implied or suggested they would be better off if they stopped work.

Finally, two-thirds reported that their hearing loss made them feel isolated at work, while an even greater number (almost 80%) reported feeling stressed in their jobs due to issues with their hearing.

Grim reading indeed. And my own experiences have often been rather fraught. The boss who would shriek at me down a mobile phone from a car roaring along a motorway, and who told me I ‘shouldn’t be working in communications’ with a hearing loss, and who likened my abilities to those of the proverbial chocolate teapot spring immediately to mind. (Mind you, after I’d stopped working for her, unsurprisingly unreluctantly, some scientists genuinely created a chocolate teapot, and so my usefulness was vindicated.)

Equally, I’ve never forgotten when, as a young trainee reporter, I came across the then Conservative MP Michael Mates, who spluttered ‘A deaf journalist?’, unable even to be bothered to try and conceal his contempt. I was too young and naïve at the time to protest, as my father said I should have done, but I wish I had.

Anyway, this time round, a decade on from when I was last in gainful employment, I may still be full of fear at the thought of going back into a ‘proper’ job, but I have at least come across some heartening reactions when I’ve told prospective employers that my hearing was less than perfect.

I contacted one organisation, a local HIV charity looking for a fundraising bid writer, and I was gently encouraged to apply. Yes, the CEO told me, it was a small place and so everyone was expected to muck in and answer the phones. But they could get me a textphone if needed.

In the event, I didn’t make it through to the interview stage, but I’m confident my hearing loss had nothing to do with it – my lack of detailed knowledge of HIV was much more of a factor.  

I was marginally more successful when I went for a proof-reading gig in a village near where I live. This time, I had made it to the pre-interview shortlist and would need to speak to the potential employer by Skype.

When the relevant HR person contacted me at the time arranged, she tried phoning twice, perhaps not having quite grasped that a spoken conversation would be impossible for me. (Even though I had told her.)

To be fair, she eventually agreed to do the chat via instant messaging, and it went fine. They didn’t want to take it any further, citing my lack of specific experience in their specialist field (pharmaceuticals) as the reason for rejection.

Then there’s the decision of wondering at what stage of the application process to disclose a hearing loss. For me, it feels right to mention the issue as soon as possible, although I respect that others choose not to.

I perhaps need to work out how I really want to work, and whether I could face office life again for a host of different reasons, not least of which is the very real fear that in most offices you’re not allowed to stay in your pyjamas until lunchtime.

For now, I am grateful that freelancing keeps me alive, not least when you read statistics such as those from Action on Hearing Loss Cymru, which reports that those who are deaf or hard of hearing are a whopping four times more likely to be unemployed than someone who can hear.

And you only have to read stories, such as this one from last year about construction worker Jack Griffiths’ search for employment, to realise that the playing field remains far from a level one.

Read more of Juliet’s articles for us here.

Juliet England does freelance social media and PR work for cSeeker.