Working in the IT Industry with an Impairment.

Nafe92014

Hello all.

I would like to ask, have you ever had a co-worker or colleague who works in IT who has a hearing impairment and or ADHD? Being 22, this is something I've had my whole life. To be honest, people get a bit impatient if they have to repeat themselves a few times. Also, I tend to be jumpy sometimes, when say I'm working by myself, it's quiet, and the phone rings, I get a bit startled. I have no stress going on right now either.

electricity

Havent had anyone with either of those, but there was this one guy who looked unusual, but only a little. I learned a year later that he had turned into a 'she'. We were all supportive of him, er her, treated her the same as anyone else. If I had you on my team, I'd be even more supportive. Have you had people say something untoward to you?

Nafe92014

No, it's just one of those things I've never seen before during my 19 months of experience so far. My current supervisor can't drive because he has tunnel vision.

techfiend

I know someone that's fairly successful in the field with a hearing impairment, dual hearing aids. I work with someone that has a speech impediment. From a support role it might be somewhat of a burden at first but if the client is understanding you should get along just fine.

I'd suggest SMB help desk/desktop support where you can get to know the clients, they are a bit more understanding. Call center would probably be the most troublesome. The one who has the hearing aids doesn't like talking on the phone and regularly asks the caller to speak up.

Nafe92014

To be honest, I'm more of an in person type. Better to understand what they're saying when I make eye contact.

Qord

We've got a deaf guy on our IT team, he's our main web programmer and part time Linux admin. He has a cochlear implant which has helped his hearing a bit, but he still use an interpreter for phone calls and meetings.

no!all!

Nafe, I've had hearing loss my whole life and have had hearing aids for almost 13 years. I didn't really start wearing them until about 6-7 years ago though. From what I've experienced people do tend to notice them but it's not like they're going to pick you out for it. A lot of times I do miss things people say or just plain old won't hear them. It happens, nothing I can really do. One thing I've noticed though is it's so much better when you can hear things rather not hear them and people actually think you're being a jerk and are ignoring them. I think everyone I work with knows I don't hear well so they just kind of shrug it off when I don't hear something the first time. Sometimes people will laugh but I normally laugh with them to make myself feel better. Every now and then though, I'll come across someone who asks rude questions or is just plain mean because of my situation. Again, nothing you can do. I just always like to remember this: "Those who matter don't mind. And those who mind don't matter." Hope this helps

Kinet1c

A guy I worked with probably had 30% vision, he was well capable at his job which is all that matters.

210mike

I have ADD and have managed to do fine in the workplace. I'm on medication for it, and I have to put more effort into keeping track of tasks and working them to completion, but it can be done. I can easily get distracted and start doing 3 or 4 different things, but I'm a heavy user of OneNote, carry a small moleskine notebook in my pocket to quickly jot things down, and keep a normal notebook in my laptop bag for notes and task lists. I've found the old pen and paper way of doing things works best for me, technology apps can be just more of a distraction in my experience.

Find some tools that work well for you and utilize them.