Comment by Jemaclus | Hacker News Reader

Comment by Jemaclus | Hacker News Reader

As another deaf developer (severe-to-profound loss), this is absolutely on point. A lot of the traditional techniques that work for most companies don't work for me, especially when it comes to pair programming. I strongly dislike group stand-ups, because I never know who's going to talk next.

One of the other things I've found myself struggling with is when to tell someone that I have a hearing loss. I feel like if I do it in the first interview, I'll set off unconscious biases, and during the hiring meeting someone will think, "Well, he can't hear shit, which might make it harder to get things done over time", and I won't get the job. On the other hand, once I get that offer and accept, then they're already invested in me, and a little bit of extra effort would be worth it. I tend to go back and forth on it. Some interviews I say it straight up, others I wait until I get an offer, and sometimes I only mention it if I think it's interfering somehow with the progress of the interview or project (e.g., I find myself saying "what" a lot or mishearing what they said).

It's a tough problem, and I wish I felt more confident about how other people would respond to that knowledge. I usually feel... safer?... when I've already secured the position, but honestly, I've never had a bad reaction to it from anyone, so maybe I'm just overthinking things.

I'm rambling now. Anyway. Totally agree with the post.

> One of the other things I've found myself struggling with is when to tell someone that I have a hearing loss. I feel like if I do it in the first interview, I'll set off unconscious biases

I completely understand this and have felt the same way, but the trade-off I ended up making in my mind to make me feel more comfortable with being up-front is that if they're not willing to be accommodating for the interview, working there is probably going to be living hell. I try to think of it as me interviewing them as well, to see how they're willing to work with me.

Ding ding ding

Totally agree with this. It's usually the second or third thing that I say in an interview after "hello", so I can get them to arrange where everyone sits in a favourable way. If they're dicks about it then you're not going to want to work with them. It is scary, though - nobody wants to feel like somebody hates them because of a disability that can't be helped, so I get why it's a preoccupation, and most of us will have had the same worry.

Regarding standups, I agree that they're a PITA. Talk to your scrum master about it if you have one - it's their job to facilitate communication. My past scrum masters have used the Wooden Spoon method (you only get to talk if you're holding the spoon) or they've stood beside me and taken brief notes for me throughout. We also experimented with doing our standups over Slack, which was FANTASTIC.

We use a ball, but the same method applies. It works great during small standups, but at all-hands meetings it gets unwieldy, especially if someone cracks a joke and everyone but me is laughing. That kind of sucks. But you're right, it definitely helps. At my next job, I plan on pushing for Slack standups, for sure.

Yes, I agree, to an extent. However, I think the real world is a little bit more complicated than that. Most people, given the opportunity, would brush aside even modest hardship, and you can't blame them for that. Why walk all the way across the parking lot when there's a parking spot right outside the front door?

But given some sort of emotional, personal, or financial investment, the willingness to endure modest hardship skyrockets.

For a pretty contrived example, if a stranger comes up to me and asks me to help them move from their old apartment to their new apartment, I would want significant compensation for the physical hardship and giving up my time and energy. However, if a friend asks me to do so, I'd do it for a slice of pizza and beer or even an IOU to help me at a later date.

Likewise, an interview, if you give them even the slightest reason to say no, they will, because there are plenty of fish in the sea that won't have that modest hardship. But at the same time, if I can get them to put a little bit of personal, emotional, or financial investment in me, their willingness to accommodate my disability -- ignoring the law for a moment here -- also skyrockets. Once they're invested in me even a little bit, they're a thousand times more willing to help out in any reasonable way that they can.

That said, you're absolutely right that we should keep an eye out for people that won't accommodate us at all. I just disagree with the notion that up-front dismissal == no accommodation at all.

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