IT TOOK 30 YEARS TO SEE THIS HAPPEN

by Morton Warnow, Pres.
Modern Deaf Communication, Inc.
November 11, 2004

I just returned from Alabama where Carrie (not her real name), a profoundly deaf woman, used face-to-face communication equipment for the first time in her life in job interviews. It was the first time any deaf person anywhere ever used this equipment in job interviews. The interviewers were administrators for the North Alabama Career Center, a State job service agency. The equipment enabled her to communicate face-to-face in English with interviewers – no sign language and no interpreters were used. She was interviewed by a Job Counselor and the Agency Director for at least 30 minutes each time. The Higher Education & Science Editor of a local newspaper also interviewed her using the equipment. He spoke with her by keyboard for 40 minutes.

The interviewers discovered that this deaf woman was an alive, vibrant, communicating, thinking, highly intelligent, intellectually bright and hungry human being with exceptional typing and English skills looking for a job – qualities which interviewers never would have observed without the equipment. She communicated face-to-face in clear, precise English with interviewers. She was not a faceless deaf person who cannot hear and cannot be known. She was no longer simply deaf. The equipment made her come alive. This never happened before with any deaf person. But it happened with Carrie in meaningful, productive interviews.

Previously, deaf people used sign language and interpreters in order to get jobs only among a handful of employers who had interpreters on the payroll. Deaf people never used clear, concise keyboard English face-to-face in job interviews. Because deaf education does not teach deaf children how to communicate face-to-face in English with hearing people, deaf people were (still are) compelled to live out their lives being denied access to the tens of thousands of good jobs among the tens of thousands of employers who never before hired deaf people for any jobs.

The result is that most deaf people never develop the host of job skills which hearing people acquire for upward mobility promotions. It is no wonder that the employment status of deaf people is the worst of any group, handicapped or not, in the country.
The employers which can be opened up by the equipment do not have interpreters on the payroll. These employers will not pay an interpreter’s salary of $40,000–$50,000 just to hire one deaf person. But now they can acquire the equipment for under $500 (2 communicating units) in order to hire a qualified deaf person for any job.

However, in her job search, Carrie brings her own equipment to interviews. And if hired, she’ll use the equipment to communicate with co-workers in English. Employers, therefore, don’t have to pay a cent.

MODERN DEAF COMMUNICATION, INC. WILL PROVIDE OTHER DEAF JOB-SEEKERS WITH THIS EQUIPMENT TO GO AFTER AND GET GOOD JOBS USING ENGLISH FACE-TO-FACE IN JOB INTERVIEWS AND IN THE WORKPLACE.

The use of the equipment in Alabama is an historical first anywhere. It enabled hearing people to learn that a deaf person is a real, live human being with whom hearing people can share feelings and thought, with whom a deaf person can share contribution, purpose and effort with society in English, the language of the land. This is what employers want.

Carrie is a poor person, the mother of 2 children, on SSI, unemployed for years, with 4 years of college where she made Dean’s List and graduated Cum Laude. She was referred to good jobs on the spot! This never before happened to Carrie. Previously, because she could only communicate in sign language, this bright young woman was only able to get temporary menial Post Office jobs, and for a while she worked as a dishwasher. But try as she might over the years, she couldn’t get a decent job because she did not communicate in English. But now she can. The equipment is going to open up the future for Carrie, and she knows this.

What happened to Carrie is the culmination of my effort after 30 years working on the problems of the deaf. I am thankful that it happened. It was wonderful to behold. Soon enough, other deaf people will get good jobs which deaf people never had before, the same good jobs hearing people get.

Any job where hearing ability is not a mandatory requirement for employment is fair game for deaf people. Soon enough other deaf people will be inspired by the example set by this woman to go after and get those good jobs.

Things will now change, thanks to the Lady from Alabama. Very soon, Carrie will move into the first real job in her life.

The above is the text of a note I distributed to various people upon my return from Alabama. Over the next couple of weeks following my return home, I gave Carrie TTY English Lessons. Using her NEXTALK computer program, she called me daily from Alabama for these lessons. Though she has relatively good English skills, she wanted to improve her skills.

Her proficiency and command of the English language rose sharply with the lessons I gave her entirely by TTY phone communication. With significantly improving English skills, Carrie, on her own, chalked up a number of interviews and was offered jobs which she turned down (the jobs weren’t quite right for Carrie), but she was offered a terrific job. This was at the Public Library.

Importantly, Carrie, on her own, secured interviews at employment agencies and with employers which no deaf person ever had before -- which no Vocational Rehabilitation Counselor had ever lined up before! All job interviewers knew that this woman would be using communication equipment to express what’s on her mind face-to-face with hearing co-workers in English.

No hearing job interviewers had ever interviewed a deaf job candidate this way before! No deaf person had ever done this before – anywhere!

Job-Placement Counselors and Vocational Guidance Counselors should heed the value of face-to-face communication equipment opening up new employment doors for qualified deaf job-seekers which never before were opened up using traditional methods or any other equipment!

WITH EQUIPMENT IN HAND, CARRIE WALKED INTO FACE-TO-FACE ENGLISH-ONLY JOB INTERVIEWS ALONE. BY HERSELF.
NO DEAF PERSON EVER DID THIS BEFORE. THEY SHOULD AND THEY CAN!

The distinguishing characteristic of Carrie’s interview-getting experience is that she used the right equipment for her interviews. Weighing only a total of around 3 lbs, it was easy for her to tote two units of face-to-face communication equipment (modified lightweight TDDs), set them up on a table, and she and the interviewer started chatting with each other immediately. She didn’t even have to plug an adapter into a wall outlet.

The important thing here is that, for whatever reason, Job Placement and Vocational Rehabilitation Counselors give no consideration to that required first step which Carrie has taken: walking into face-to-face English-only job interviews entirely on her own. The right equipment enabled her to make this achievement. Job Placement and VR Counselors should heed this crucial requirement so that they can effectively help their deaf clients get the best of all possible jobs.

THE SHOULD HEED THE NEED FOR THEIR CLIENTS TO WALK INTO ENGLISH-ONLY JOB INTERVIEWS FULLY READY TO COMMUNICATE FACE-TO-FACE IN ENGLISH.

As a highly creative person, Carrie learned from my TTY English Lesson Program that the method of instruction I developed to help her improve her English skills would be ideal in an English instruction for deaf children. She understood how the logic of the method quickly helped her acquire significantly improved English skills. She understood that this is exactly the same method of instruction as my Writing-Communication Method of English Instruction for Deaf Children, and that in a face-to-face mode, she believed that she, personally, could use the method to teach deaf children to acquire good English skills fast. She went to the Alabama Institute for The Deaf and The Blind and offered to conduct classes for deaf children in their school for the deaf. They are considering her proposal. Her hopes for deaf children as well as herself know no bounds.

What Carrie accomplished over such a short period of time was unbelievable. It was wonderful. No deaf person ever had the wonderful experiences Carrie had and was giving herself. She was communicating face-to-face, elbow-to-elbow with hearing people for the first time in her life.

She saw how this communication made her come alive, real and valuable to hearing people, especially employers, as nothing else had done before. She had swiftly moved solidly into a future of promise, independence and meaningful employment.

Inexpensive, readily available equipment enabled Carrie to begin changing her life for the better. She was showing the way for qualified deaf people to get good jobs paying good salaries. Carrie was opening up the world for deaf people everywhere!

April 10, 2005 was my 80th birthday. What happened to Carrie, what she did and wanted to do with her life when she had face-to-face communication equipment in hand, inspired me to create Modern Deaf Communication, Inc, a non-profit organization serving the deaf. Through Modern Deaf Communication, Inc., the good things that happened to Carrie will happen to other deaf people.

Modern Deaf Communication, Inc. is in pursuit of a good and decent future for the deaf. We welcome the involvement of others to help create this future.

Yes, Carrie was offered the job at the library, but for extraordinary reason she did not and could not take that job. Ever so sadly she did not take the job which would have fulfilled her finest hopes and changed her life for the better. But Carrie proved something wonderful, that determined deaf people of hope, courage and a belief in themselves and their future can change their lives for the better. Definitely! She proved this hands down!

I believe there are other Carries out there ready to be helped. If you’re one of them, get in touch with me and let me help you get a good job using English face-to-face in the workplace.

Morton Warnow, Founder.
Modern Deaf Communication, Inc.