I ran into a friend at the library this week. Conversations with him are interesting, but admittedly a little difficult due to his hearing impairment. I suppose most would say he is deaf. Between lip reading and hearing aids he can understand what you are saying and his speech is remarkably clear, all things considered. When speaking to him you have to choose your words with a little thought as you may need to repeat any he misses. You also want to avoid words such as anticholinergic. Paying attention when he is talking is a must along with not being embarrassed to ask for a repeat of anything you could not understand. People seem especially embarrassed to admit missing any words when speaking with someone severely hearing impaired. Because of the concentration required conversations tend to be a little slower, but quite interesting. What a concept – conversations where participants listen carefully and choose their words with some thought and care. As I said, it makes for out of the ordinary conversation.

We met as we were, and unfortunately continue to be, job searching with the need for access to the internet, He has a BA Physical Geography and is currently working on a BSc at UCFV while continuing his search for employment in biological research, a field where he gained experience when working in Montreal. Given the boom in bio-tech this would seem to be a good field to be seeking a job in. I had not run into him for a while as I was barred from the Job Zone for using the internet connection for non-job search uses. They felt that felt that maintaining a web site etc. were not networking to find employment and thus non-job usage, consequently I have had to make use of other more flexible but limited access.

Since we had not spoken recently the conversation turned to employment. He had applied had applied to a firm advertising for someone with his skills and experience and as an added bonus it was an Abbotsford firm, Neova Tech.. By the third interview he was speaking with the CEO and he felt things were going very well. Suddenly in the fourth meeting the company plans had changed and while my friend was disappointed, things happen.

Shortly thereafter the advertisement for the position reappeared in the newspapers with the company even sending a fax to UCFV seeking for someone to fill the position. Ironically the faculty as UCFV felt my friend was perfect for the job and brought it to his attention. As you might expect he was somewhat upset over this and contacted the company. The “explanation” this time is that they had some kind of vague “safety concerns” which they were not able to give an example of, making for a rather lame excuse.

Francis’s educational accomplishments demonstrate his ability to learn, communicate and perform at a high level. Yes it takes a little extra effort to communicate verbally, but it has been my experience that those who are in situations similar to those of my friend make excellent employees with a willingness to go that extra mile for those willing to make the small effort required for them to work effectively with you. In fact, one could argue that Francis’s hearing impairment gives him an ability to concentrate and not be distracted by conversation or noise around him and thus is in fact an advantage.

Understandably he and his wife are very upset about this prejudicial behaviour. So was I and making use of the verbal skills advantage that having normal hearing grants me (think about it) I chose to write about this unacceptable and damaging behaviour making the public aware of this deplorable corporate behaviour. I told him I would be writing and urged him to seek out any and all help he could to seek to redress the situation, with particular attention to those people and groups who protect the disabled from discrimination. Frances has worked hard to achieve the education and employment he wants and finds that discrimination and injustice is a bigger barrier than his hearing ever was. We are a community and whether the person is handicapped physically, mentally or through homelessness issues they deserve our consideration, help and fair treatment from all of us.