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Tell me about your job. How did you get into this line of work?

I am an American Sign Language Master Tutor/Mentor and Evaluator for ASL VRS interpreters. I’m currently studying Language Hunter’s Techniques as we invent a lot of helpful techniques that enables learning any foreign languages quickly.

By fate, I got into ASL Tutoring through a Deaf ASL teacher who noticed my potentials to teach. He made a huge impression in my life, planting a seed which paved my way to where I am today. After he died of aids, I vowed to become the best ASL teacher for individuals struggling to learn ASL - as with learning challenges I have, I truly understand what it’s like to be ignored in an overcrowded classroom. So, for years I’ve mentored numerous ASL teachers and attended many ASLTA workshops which gave me some clues to better my career. The rest I invented methods to jump start students to quickly grasp what was needed to learn.

What is the best part of your job?

I love seeing students who have failed in their ASL course and in one term, come back with a grade A average and seeing their faces lit up with joy. The same goes for any students who were shunned by other ASL teachers swearing they had no hope and I was able to help them understand ASL and become fluent over time.

What are some of the challenges of your job?

I guess the most challenging aspect of my tutoring job is technical issues. I’m still learning how to problem solve technical issues such as faulty connections with Skype, web-cam or a videophone, things along that nature. My second challenge is finding more ASL students to teach one on one.

What was it like growing up deaf/hard of hearing?

It was a very difficult childhood dealing with constant audism– oppression from hearing family, hearing teachers, hearing friends, hearing doctors, the entire hearing non-community. The older I got, the higher hearing people’s unrealistic expectations became increasingly burdensome. Thankfully one of my favorite teacher who truly understood my issue persuaded my family to let me go to Model Secondary School

for the Deaf. It was then I learned to accept my Deafness with pride and embraced ASL Culture.

What advice would you give a deaf/HH person who is looking for a career like yours?

My advice is to learn all you can learn about American Sign Language - literally taking all of the ASL classes, ASL linguistics and workshops - even if you’re fluent already to understand how students learn. Always be brave to experiment with various methods that is not traditional - we’re here to serve hard working students who wish to master ASL. Accept the fact that there’s always room for improvement with your teaching ability. Learn from a master ASL tutor/mentor who has a high success rate of fluent ASLstudents to save you time, energy, and errors. Be patient and polite with your ASL students and have fun in your sessions.

WWW.ASLmasterTutor.com

Email: ASLmasterTutor@gmail.com

Topics: Teachers | No Comments »

Tell me about your job/business.

Synergetic Business Solutions is a marketing communications firm that offers cutting-edge, goal oriented business operations and marketing tools for small and mid-size businesses.  Services include website design and development, Search Engine Optimization/Search Engine Marketing, graphic design, and social media design and development.  As the owner of Synergetic Business Solutions, my responsibilities are all-encompassing as I provide assistance to businesses and individuals all across the board.  From website design to social media design/development, my goal is to help clients create synergy through all aspects of their business, hence the name Synergetic Business Solutions.  While we are not equipped to handle aspects other than marketing, our focus is to integrate each component of our clients’ business by aligning business/marketing strategies, messages, and design.

For the past two and a half years, I’ve also worked at Hager Productions, a video production company specializing in the production of promotional and marketing videos.  I originally started out as the Director of Marketing and Sales and was promoted to the Director of Strategy and Business Development.  There, my responsibilities revolve around overseeing the marketing and sales arms of the company.

How did you get into this line of work?

When I decided to go to business school for my undergraduate degree, my plans were to get my Bachelors in Business Management and then go to law school.  Things changed when I was selected to participate in a competition for a ‘dream co-op’ position at ESPN.  Even though I was not selected for the dream co-op, I was selected as a semi-finalist and was charged with presenting in front of ESPN executives and executives from other organizations.  The task revolved around marketing strategies for ESPN with several local Rochester organizations.  This experience was my first true experience with marketing and truly opened my eyes to what marketing really was all about.  I fell in love and decided that instead of going to law school, I would get my MBA (graduated in 2010 with a concentration in Marketing and Sales Management).

What is the best part of your job?

The best part of my job is taking a problem and solving it and then seeing the gratitude from my customers.  Marketing is so complex and it is not like mathematics in which you can take a simple algorithm and solve the problem.  There are unique situations and factors that need to be considered when deciphering the issue at hand.  The best compliment I’ve received is a referral.

What are some of the challenges of your job?

There are a number of challenges with my field - first and foremost, as I mentioned previously, marketing is not simple as you can’t take 1 + 1 and get the results you need.  It takes time to figure out strategy and implementation plans, and this is not an overnight process.  Patience is often a virtue when it comes to marketing.  Another challenge that compounds this issue is that technology is always improving/changing.  It can become difficult to keep up with the changes and advancements - clients depend on me for answers and if I don’t know them, I need to find them rather quickly.

What was it like growing up deaf/hard of hearing?

Growing up hard of hearing really wasn’t much of a big deal to me - I had deaf parents and deaf grandparents (on my mother’s side).  Being a part of the ‘deaf world’ was natural to me.  Being a part of the ‘hearing world’ wasn’t as easy, though.  There were the usual pickings in which I was picked on for having a hearing loss (most often evident while playing sports).  But intellectually, I always knew  that I was equal to my hearing peers - this was a byproduct of family always urging me on to succeed and providing the necessary support system for me at home.

What advice would you give a deaf/HH person who is looking for a career like yours?

The best advice I can give a deaf/HH person who is looking for a career like mine is to reach out to someone who has ‘been there, done that.’  I wish I did this because I would have learned more about marketing before getting into the space.  I feel as if I went into my MBA without much experience and really could have used a true mentor in the space.  While I am happy where I am today, I believe I may have done things differently that could have advanced me further in my career.

Topics: Business, Marketing | No Comments »

Tell me about your job. How did you get into this line of work?

I am a strategy consultant who provides finance, strategy and marketing advisory services to clients in the assistive technology industry, including nonprofits that serve people with disabilities. A finance industry veteran, I worked at American Express, Thomson Reuters, and IBM, and was the second profoundly deaf student to receive an MBA from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In addition to my work, I write about disability issues and business at michaeljanger.com.

I was born profoundly deaf, and not having the sense of hearing in a world full of hearing people presented me with challenges on an almost daily basis. Socially, academically and professionally, it was very difficult to communicate on a functionally equivalent level with my peers. The saving grace for me were innovations in technology that have enabled me to prosper in my career and my personal life. So, it is a passion for me to work with companies to better market products that make a difference for people with disabilities.

With my finance and strategy experience in Fortune 500 companies, it was a natural progression to a line of work where I could offer my skills in a market I know well, as a person with a disability.

What is the best part of your job?

I enjoy working with clients to solve their business problems. It feels good to know I am helping them perform better, and more importantly, provide consumers with disabilities with better choices when evaluating products that enable them to function in a non-disabled world.

What are some of the challenges of your job?

This is my first entrepreneurial role. It was not by choice that I left American Express in 2009 — the Lehman collapse and credit crunch resulted in major layoffs at American Express. In a difficult job market in finance, I decided to lay the groundwork for a consulting career where I could provide my substantial finance and strategy experience to companies in a market that I know intimately. But it is a lot of work. You have to be disciplined day in and day out, and network as much as possible to build your business and get to know the major players in the amazingly diverse world of people with disabilities.

What was it like growing up deaf?

An important starting point — especially for those who are hearing — is that as someone who was born profoundly deaf, I did not lose anything. I have no memory or knowledge of what it is like to be fully hearing — to speak easily on the phone, listen to a podcast, or appreciate the finer points of music. The experience I have every day is of someone with a limited sense of hearing growing up in a world dominated by people who can hear perfectly well.

This meant adapting to situations where the odds are always stacked against you. In high school, I did not have a real social life in a day and age when there were no cell phones, e-mail, or Internet. My hearing classmates called each other by landline phone, and I could not use the phone on my own. Sometimes I had to ask my parents to make the calls for me — which was very awkward to do in the image-conscious world of adolescence. It was not until college, where people see each other constantly in dormitory halls and campus greens, that my social life flourished.

My childhood experiences have given me a strong desire to be connected to everything, to have access to as much information as possible. Which might be too much of a good thing today, in the age of information overload. But it has come in handy for me in my work, as I tend to be pretty good at collecting and analyzing data, and doing exhaustive research on the various business issues I face in my work.

What advice would you give a deaf/HH person who is looking for a career like yours?

As a finance industry veteran, it is important to build up substantial credentials in your field of expertise before venturing into a business of your own. Unlike marketing or creative writing, finance tends to be a pretty conservative industry where intelligence, trust, and solid academic credentials are key success factors. To shift from finance into a business of your own requires a strong network of people who can help you make your business work, and a vastly different approach to work that relies less on analyzing numbers and more on creative, team-oriented problem-solving.

In whatever you do, it is important to follow your passion. A friend of mine, who is also deaf, put it very succinctly: “The best job is one where I can work for free.” And when it comes with a paycheck, it’s even better.

Topics: Business | 1 Comment »

Dr. Suzette Garay is the owner of Baby Signs 4 U and is a national speaker.  She was the first Hispanic Deaf woman to obtain a Ph.D.

Sign Language Classes at Apple Ridge Academy

The Benefits of Using Sign Language with Preverbal Babies 

Tell me about your job.  How did you get into this line of work?

My primary work is teaching.  I teach the following Psychology, ASL, and Parent/Infants (hearing pre-verbal babies) to utilize sign language before they speak.  My desires to teach be it in a school, college, and/or private practice has been a long-standing dream of mine since I was in high school.  My decision to become a teacher comes from experiencing my own personal frustrations, lack of access to information, and/or discrimination to participate in opportunities due to poor special education services or no interpreters llowed in my classes back then in 1970’s.

What is the best part of your job?

Seeing how children are inspired, motivated, and determined to excel after knowing it is possible (role model) when their teacher standing before them has done it.

What are some of the challenges of your job?

-Convincing parents that all things are possible even if their child cannot hear or has something lacking or limiting them learning in the same way most children learn. 

-Convincing people that I am worthy of my expertise when it comes to making profound decisions on a child’s life or deciding whether or not a child can learn with the best informed-choices that are available.  Sometimes, people have preconceived notions of what children with disabilities can or cannot do.

-Avoiding the labels of being “exceptional”, “gifted”, “genius”, “having all the answers,” etc…  sometimes people try to put me on high pedestal for being the ideal Deaf, woman with Ph.D., First Latina, and/or overcoming adversity when I just want to be that “normal” person who worked hard to achieve what I had to overcome.

-Meeting the needs or demands of the expectations people assume you can provide all the answers or hope for their child in need. So many people are desperate for your services or inspiration, but you can’t meet everyone’s need. Your only one person with so many hours available to help others.  Sometimes, you have to take care of yourself first before you can take care of others.

What was it like growing up deaf/hard of hearing?

My journey as a deaf child was very unusual than most would people would endure in their childhood.  First, even though I was born profoundly deaf, my deafness was not identified till I was almost 13 years old.  This is mostly due to the fact that I was shuffled through the welfare/foster care system which moved me in and out of more than 16 foster homes.  This means that on the average I lived with the families approximately 90 days or so.  When there was an opportunity to consider a possible hearing loss I was already moving onto another home.  Those first 13 years of my life were an incredible journey of exploring, learning, and understanding the world around me.

After the 13 years, I finally had the right to be deaf and it changed the perceptions of how others would view me.  Some were good and some were bad perceptions of what I could or couldn’t do as a deaf child.  I loved music, in the sense of feeling the vibrations and often would be in the hands of authorities for “disturbing the neighbors” for blasting music so I could enjoy it. Schools became more restricted with learning, participating, and being treated differently with lower expectations of what I could learn or do because I was deaf or came from a lower social-economic background or simply because I was “too bright” has a handicap child. 

Most of last 5 years of schooling was devoted to speech therapy, auditory rehab due years of needing to catch up.  This resulted in lost opportunities to participate in sports or extra-curricular activities that
hearing students had.

What advice would you give a deaf/hard of  hearing person who is looking for a career like yours?

-Never take NO for an answer!
-Always believe in yourself and only you can determine what you want to be
or do in your life (no one should decide for you).
-Have lots of patience with people who don’t understand your intentions to
excel in whatever you want to do.
-Don’t be afraid to ask for help and be grateful when others do help you.
-Never forget where you came from or your shortcomings so you can always be glad to help others when they are in need, especially if you are going to teach the little ones who will be looking up to you.
-Pick the right college that will give you the most support not just the name of the school because it’s popular.
-Don’t be afraid to stand up for what you believe is the right thing to do even if it is not the most popular thing others want you to do.

Topics: Teachers, Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Deborah S. Mayer, president and owner of Crossroad Solutions Coach, Bio:

Deborah is a professional certified coach with training in leadership coaching at Georgetown University and Adler Professional School of Coaching-Arizona and is recognized by the International Coach Federation (ICF).

Deborah coaches one-to-one and leads interactive workshops and retreats on life, transition and leadership development for both deaf and hearing communities.Deborah demonstrates a remarkable commitment to her clients’ growth and achievements. Deborah is a local and national educator, facilitator and a strong advocate for deaf children’s and adults’ rights. Deborah has a bachelor’s degree in deaf education from the University of Tennessee and a master’s in deafness rehabilitation and counseling from New York University. She holds professional certifications in rehabilitation counseling and rehabilitation administration from the Commission on Rehabilitation Counseling and the Post-Employment Training-Administration of Programs Serving Individuals who are Deaf, Late-Deafened and Hard of Hearing program (PET-D) at San Diego State University. Deborah is certified as a Deaf Mentor in Illinois and Parent Advisor in Missouri trained in the SKI-Hi Curriculum. Professional experiences include director/counselor in programs for deaf/HOH students at Lehman College and LaGuardia Community College, both in NYC, and outreach specialist for Relay Missouri. She provided MCPO/PEPNet with consulting, informational and training services. She taught graduate courses at Maryville University. Deborah loves learning, traveling, cooking, dancing, family life and beach walking.

Tell me about your job– how did you get into this line of work?

I entered the coaching field when as a deaf parent, I saw how effectively and quickly my deaf child enthusiastically responded to coaching techniques by a Parent Coach over traditional counseling approaches.

I work with deaf and hearing individuals, families, groups, teams and leaders. Coaching sessions are anywhere in person, through videophone, webcam or video relay. I also give presentations, workshops, retreats and training sessions.

If you are stuck at a crossroad in your life and dont know how to move forward, that is where coaching comes in.

An advisor, counselor, psychiatrist, social worker or therapist usually focuses on the past to define current problems and tells you what to do. This is the old do-as-I say approach that deprives you of personal achievement. A coach enters a partnership  with you. You coach walks with you to discover the greatest in you. You will be empowered to create your own action plan and move forward to a fulfilling and meaningful life.

What is the best part of your job?

Reaching out to more people and see satisfying results.

What are some of the challenges of your job?

Geographical location and being visible.

I find myself dealing with different people from all walks of life. Not one person has the same goal or desire to change.

What was it like growing up deaf/hard of hearing?

My generation was different than today’s generation as my deaf teenagers grew up with technology advancement.  We didn’t have captions, TTYs or even pagers. Cochlear implants did not exist yet. Education was through touch, feel and see.

What advice would you give a deaf/hard of hearing person who is looking for a career like yours?

Topics: Attorneys, Counselors, Marketing, Medical Field, Non-profit field, Teachers, Transportation, Writing/Publishing | 5 Comments »

I work as a General Manager for Nibbles Play Cafe located in  Wheeling , IL.  It is a restaurant with play areas for kids ages one to seven to come and play while families dine, eat and talk away!!

A few years after birth,  my parents found out that I had a hearing loss. Doctors back then didn’t think anything was wrong with me. My parents struggled with doctors– saying, “she’s not hearing us and responding.” My mom had german measles while pregnant  with me. Finally after going to kindergarten, the speech therapist said I had a hearing loss.  Boy, did we visit Northwestern so many times!  I’m glad I spent alot of time there learning the speech skill drills over and over.   I can read lips very well for the hearing loss I have and wear a hearing aid. This really helps my career and working with people who can hear.

My job as a General Manager, I communicate daily with customers,  taking their orders ( remember, I have to try my best to understand the different languages) and it’s not easy to read their lips if they use a language other than English!  I communicate with my employees, my boss and they are all good to me– we get along very well. I use the phone but recently purchased a videophone with VCO built in.   This will make my life so much easier to communicate with the customers on the phone when we plan birthday parties!! I also communicate with different vendors when I need to place orders. I also communicate with children.

We have deaf kids come to our restaurant and this really makes my day to see them! I am a former Hersey student class of 1981 and have welcomed Hersey’s job co-op program to come and volunteer to work at our place.  This gives them the experience to work in a real world and also having a “deaf” boss working there they really like that, but I try to explain it doesn’t happen everywhere you work!

Growing up was challenging. You have people looking at you like you are from Mars, you speak funny….until they realize that you are deaf/hard of hearing.  You judge to see if people will accept you or not. You need to stand up for yourself and be strong and say I can do anything that people with normal hearing can do.

Come and visit us at “NibblesPlayCafe” !!
www.nibblesplaycafe.com

my work email is :  laura@nibblesplaycafe.com

Topics: Management | 4 Comments »

I grew up in far Eastern Kentucky, attending the Pikeville Independent School system as a mainstreamed student.  I was hard of hearing, had no interpreters or note-takers, or any other accommodations like that (even though IDEA was already a law at the time), no one took the time to share with my parents what accommodations were out there that could have been helpful to me through the educational process.  I’m married to a wonderful wife (Yvette), and we have two children, a daughter (Triniti, age 12) and a son (Brock, age and reside in Pikeville, Ky.,  I’m a graduate of Eastern Kentucky University with 2 degrees, an A.A. in Business and Industrial Security and Loss Prevention, and a B.S. in Loss Prevention Management.  I attended Gallaudet University for one year (1990-91), where I was a member of the university baseball team (teammate of Mark Drolsbaugh).  I currently spend what little free time I have advocating for the deaf and hard of hearing on different issues, am an Executive Board member of the Kentucky Chapter of the National Society of Professional Insurance Investigators (NSPII), a member of the International Association of Special Investigations Units (IASIU), President of the Board of the Pikeville Aquatics Club, previously coached youth sports with the local YMCA, currently a member of the Access to Captioned Movies study group recently formed by the Kentucky Commission on the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, and serve on the Kentucky Relay Service Advisory Board.  I like to stay busy, in other words! Also, I lost the rest of my hearing by about the age of 17, so I’ve been deaf for most of my life.

Topics: Investigators | 2 Comments »

Donald Moore works as an Information Technology professional at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. He works on a technology team that provides Content Management solutions to other Federal Reserve Districts across the country (there are 12 Districts). At night, Donald runs a blog at Prosumertech on the use of technologies and accessibility features to help others learn what technology solutions are available for everyday use for the deaf/hoh consumers. The idea for his blog started due to his on-going exposure to technology at work, curiosity of new technologies for personal needs, and conversations and questions from others seeking help.

Where did you attend school and what were the school years like?

I am the only deaf/hard of hearing member of my family. We did not utilize sign language during my childhood because I have some residual hearing, and was encouraged to attend public schools via mainstreaming. Minor accommodations were usually done to address my needs in school. Since my dad was a Geologist with major oil and mining companies, it required frequent relocations. In addition, being actively involved with Scouts, along with the frequent relocations; it gave me the opportunity to travel extensively throughout the U.S. I didn’t really learn sign language until I took a summer crash course at Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. just prior to enrolling for my freshman year.

Since I grew up in several major cities (Houston, NJ/NYC, Tulsa, Dallas, D.C. and now Chicago), prior to attending Gallaudet University, the availability of the Internet, meeting other deaf/hoh individuals was not commonplace. With the frequent relocations, attending a number of different schools sometimes presented challenges. Today we have family members located across the country; we stay in touch via email, chat, and SMS.

When you were younger, what did you want to be when you “grew up”?

When I was younger, some thought I would have a career in architecture and drafting, this was before the PC become popular, and the wide spread of consumer technologies. While in high school I was involved in Explorer Scouts with ExxonMobil in their IT department in Houston, which was my first real exposure to the use of computers and technology in the workplace.

When I started on my bachelor’s degree at Gallaudet University, I first had some interest in Accounting and Business Law, but due to course scheduling conflicts and availability, and that new technologies were appearing – I had become interested in a career in the Information Technology field. I wanted to combine the need to solve business problems by the use of technology. During the course of my career, I have stayed current with technologies at home and in the work place by exploration, readings, taking graduate coursework, and seeking involvements in new projects at work.

Education I have a Masters in Management Information Systems and E-Commerce from the University of Maryland. As well as a Bachelors in Computer Information Systems / Business Administration from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. I am currently pursuing my MBA via an online program, also with the University of Maryland.

What is your current job and what is a typical day like on the job?

There is no such a thing as a “typical” work day within an IT department. I often have to juggle a number of things: such as attending meetings and training sessions, crafting the next PowerPoint or Intranet article, develop and test web / CMS applications, work on application or database design specifications, interact with employees cross-country via instant messaging, and utilize email for more detailed communications. The variations of tasks, problems, and technologies helps makes working within the IT field interesting and challenging!

Previous Work Experience

<!–[if !vml]–><!–[endif]–>As some say “The jobs of tomorrow haven not yet been created”. I encourage everyone to remain flexible and adaptive to the work place. My career hasn’t been exactly in a straight line from point “A” to “B”. During high school I worked summer jobs in restaurants and mowed lawns for a builder, for a year ran computer labs in college, did a technology internship with H.U.D. for one summer. Out of college, I started in the hardware/help desk area, then progressed to programming with mainframes, financial data reporting, served as a web master, and now work with web, content management and digital assets.

What advice would you share with a student who is considering career choices?

In today’s work environment, you are ultimately responsible for your own career development. Do research, talk to others in the field(s) you are interested in, and make an effort to stay on top of your field by staying current with the trends and technologies used in the work place. If offered, take advantage of training opportunities with your employer – whether it’s for on the job training or getting support for an advanced degree. I’m currently studying for my MBA, even though I already have a Masters in Computer Information Systems - a lot has changed in the work place with technology within the past 10 years. Go for a career where your interests and abilities are – it doesn’t necessarily have to be what your parents want you to do/be.

Donald Moore can be reached at: mooredlm (at) comcast.net

Blog: http://prosumertech.blogspot.com

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/mooredlm

LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/donaldlmoore

Topics: Computer Jobs | 2 Comments »

Topics: Non-profit field | No Comments »

Howard Rosenblum was just twelve years old when he attended an event that changed his life and determined his career path.  At the event, he met Lowell Myers, a deaf attorney who had argued a famous case which was made into a movie, Dummy.

Howard recalls the event:  “When he came to speak about his experiences as a lawyer at an event in 1978, a twelve-year-old deaf boy saw the same opportunity that Mr. Myers saw for himself. That boy was me, and thanks to Mr. Myers, I became a lawyer 14 years later.”

Today, Howard is a Senior Attorney at Equip for Equality located in Chicago– a non-profit organization that advances the human and civil rights of people with disabilities.   He holds an undergraduate degree from the University of Arizona and a J.D. from Chicago-Kent College of Law.  He is the founder and director of the Midwest Center for Law and the Deaf which provides attorney referrals for deaf and hard of hearing people.  In 2002, he received the Edward J. Lewis II Pro Bono Service Award for providing many years of pro bono work during his tenure at the law firm of Monahan and Cohen.

Howard credits his parents for encouraging him to pursue his dream and to ignore the naysayers.  Just as Myers inspired Howard, Howard is now inspiring other deaf and hard of hearing individuals with his path.  The number of deaf and hard of hearing attorneys continues to grow, and together, they’re breaking down barriers.

Topics: Attorneys | 4 Comments »