Hi, this is an interesting topic that I’d like to explore, please feel free to add your comments.

What I’ve seen — and trust me, I don’t see very much — in terms of Deaf employment seems to fall into three broad areas:

• A) Deaf Educators
• B) Deaf Empowerers
• C) Deaf Labourers

Allow me to explain:

Deaf Educators is a broad spectrum of workers who typically they work with Deaf children as Early Childhood Educators, teachers, education assistants, principals, Deaf (adult) enhancement programs, admins of those programs, Deaf yoga teachers, instructors or assistants within an Interpreter training program (ITP). The Deaf Educator directly supports Deaf individuals. Yes, the ITP supports Deaf individuals, in a roundabout way.

Deaf Empowerers (yes I coined a word) are Deaf individuals who support Deaf persons in the community; such as at Deaf social workers, Deaf Senior support workers, Deaf intervenors, Deaf interpreters, Deaf Lawyers, Deaf admin at an agency of or for Deaf individuals, etc etc etc… The point is the Deaf Empowerer is, pretty straight forward right, empowering a Deaf individual to succeed.

Within these two categories, a Deaf person is working with another Deaf person.

Are you clear?

Deaf Labourers tend to work with general public. Some examples are: Mechanic, chef, house cleaner, gardener, manufacturer, UPS driver, DoorDash driver, computer technician, barista, etc etc…

I think I’ve gone far enough with the explanations; now I’d like to put your mind to a test…

What if that barrier is broken? If a Deaf educator or empowerer works with non-Deaf persons?

Can a Deaf biology teacher take on a grade 11 biology class, full of hearing students?
Could a Deaf teacher with a few pedagogical degrees teach a second grade class of 31 students, with zero Deaf students?
Could a Deaf Social Worker with a masters in several related fields work with Hearing homeless people, empowering them to overcome their situation?
Would you, a Hearing person, attend a lecture on the Liberation of Elephants Stuck in a China Shop, subheading, The Crisis of Ataxians Falling Anywhere?
How about hiring a Deaf lawyer to sue a hearing chiropractor who broke your pelvis?

Could these situations work? Would they work? Are they feasible? The answer is YES, with an additional cost of hiring interpreters:
The two schools would hire a team of interpreters to work with the Deaf teachers. They may also hire education assistants who are fluent in ASL.
The Deaf social worker would have a team of interpreters when they go out into the darkest corners of the city.
The lecturer would have a team of interpreters off stage, and on stage.
Deaf Lawyers tend to have a few interpreters on staff anyways…

And yet, I’m guessing here, from my lack of first hand experience, most agencies, schools, universities may not cover that expense, simply because they have plenty of hearing individuals available.

Why spend $60,000 over 8 months for two interpreters in conjunction to a teacher’s salary of $36.000. That is $96,000! When a hearing teacher is available… so why bother?

Now, before my wrist starts vibrating again, thank you for reading. If you have some thoughts or concerns on this topic, please advise!

Oh darn, I didn’t make it!