New research by the Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD) has highlighted the challenges faced by deaf people when securing and progressing in work.
The survey, which polled the experiences of deaf people in relation to employment and career progression, was carried out at the end of 2020.
Amongst the issues raised by respondents were a lack of deaf awareness amongst employers, communication issues and barriers to voluntary work.
When asked about careers advice, only a quarter of respondents said they had received this in sign language, whilst of those who received careers advice at school less than half (41%) said the careers advisor thought they could do the job they wanted.
When it came to career progression, the majority (60%) of respondents said they had not been given progression opportunities during their career, with several citing a lack of deaf role models within work as a key barrier.
Significant issues were also raised in relation to workplace accessibility and inclusion, with nearly two-thirds (63%) reporting they had not been given equal opportunities in the workplace and just over half (53%) did not feel supported at work.
Added to this, 83% of respondents had been excluded from conversations with colleagues; two-thirds (69%) reported feeling lonely at work, whilst over half (59%) had been left out of social events.
Shockingly, a third (34%) had experienced bullying or acts of unkindness at work because they were deaf.
More positively, nearly half (48%) said their colleagues had wanted to sign or to learn to sign with them. However, only 2 in 10 (21%) said their employer had arranged deaf awareness training for all staff.
More info here on the RAD website: https://www.royaldeaf.org.uk/rad-research-reveals-significant-barriers-to-employment-and-career-progression-opportunities-for-deaf-people/
To read the report, click here: https://www.royaldeaf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/DeafAdvance-Report.pdf
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Cathy
April 28, 2021
This story exposing the difficulties Deaf people face is nothing new and has been going on for years and years! The fact there is no deaf awareness in work places is simply down to the fact that there are not enough deaf people to impact on the workplace. For instance if the numbers of deaf was higher than the number who can hear then changes would have been implemented years ago! Some hearing people are happy and willing to learn sign language, but we cannot expect them all too. After all I have never been interested in learning Thai or Japanese for example, so we cannot force sign language on everybody. Workplaces anywhere are lonely places for deaf people as conversation is fast and spontaneous, there is little room for slowing down and repeating things and when the joke has gone, its gone. Sadly, I see no improvement in my lifetime although deaf awareness courses may go a long way to alleviating problems in work for deaf people, but these courses are rarely up and running and many work places do not have a contingency fund to cover this eventuality.
Fred Trull
April 28, 2021
This is essentially the failure by the various deaf charities to increase awareness in the hearing world.
They have spent years and years, millions and millions of other people’s money. They’ve not done too badly out of it, but this is the result. This is a failure comparable to the use of a chocolate fireguard or rubber spanner.
And yet they STILL face the world claiming to be our representatives. With friends like this we don’t need enemies.
Tim
April 29, 2021
“New research by the Royal Association for Deaf people (RAD) has highlighted the challenges faced by hearing people when including and progressing Deaf people in work.”
Fixed that for you.