How They Did It

Software company:
Computer Programmer

PROBLEM:Joe Clark, a 35-year-old computer programmer for the Boston-based QWERTY Corp, had never considered how having a sudden, severe hearing loss could affect someone in their personal and professional life. Until last year, that is, when he nearly died from a catastrophic illness that resulted in rapid and progressive profound hearing loss. Joe has had to make life-altering adjustments to living and working with late-deafness.

After a long period of disability leave, Joe is ready to return to work. However, he'll need certain assistive technology and accommodations in order to fulfill the tasks and duties he once performed. Prior to experiencing his hearing loss Joe was responsible for:

• working on joint projects with programming staff
• trouble-shooting technical questions for staff and customers both on the phone and in person
• attending weekly planning and design meetings
• traveling to and from satellite offices to configure computers and to meet with programming team members

Clearly, QWERTY Corp will have to make certain accommodations and arrange technical assistance so that he can return to work and fulfill his job duties. Complicating the task is the fact that Joe's hearing loss is so severe that he receives no benefits from hearing aids or other assistive listening devices. Thus, he can't use the phone, either conventional or amplified. He is unable to call business contacts, fellow staff members, friends and family. Joe needs some assistive tools to stay in contact with the home office when he's doing work in the field as well as with clients.

At the office, he'll need to be able to participate efficiently in staff meetings and small group discussions on shared projects

SOLUTION: The first thing QWERTY purchased was a teletype device for the deaf (TTY/TDD) with voice carry-over and printing features. The unit cost $450 (they range from $250-$650, depending on the features selected) and makes it possible for Joe to make and receive TTY and regular phone calls. (The voice carry-over option is helpful for deaf or hard of hearing persons wanting to place a call via relay service while at the same time receiving a TTY text message typed back to them by a relay operator. It also allows the individual to call people who do not have TTY devices.)

Because a large part of Joe's work involves being away from the main office, the company also purchased a portable TTY device. (These range from $200-500 and are available with standard and cell phone connectors.) The device connects to a standard analogue phone jack with a direct-connect cable, and that means Joe can use it to communicate with the folks back in the office pretty much anywhere he can find a telephone. The company considered buying an additional analogue cell phone with a headphone or hands-free attachment feature, but decided against it since Joe's field calls come from locations that already have phone connections. (The cell phone would have cost from $50-150, with an additional $40-100 for the connection cable.)

Given Joe's travel schedule, the company also purchased an LCD text pager, with voicemail-to-text and a "vibrate" feature which quietly alerts Joe to incoming pages. The pager allows Joe to travel and stay in contact with staff members and clients as well as his family.

Joe has asked his supervisor to purchase a personal digital assistant (PDA), with a wireless internet connection that would allow him to access e-mail and also offers speech-to-text, text-to-speech, and fax capabilities. It would serve as an alternative to using his portable TTY device and his supervisor expects to approve Joe's request in the next budget cycle. (A PDA costs between $300-$1,000.)

Since Joe's in the computer business, he already has a laptop computer (they generally run between $1,500-$2,000) and the company's arranged for an extra monitor to be available for meetings and project discussions. (A 17" monitor can be obtained for $200 or less.) With the external monitor, Joe will be able to observe easily what's being typed without leaning over a colleague's shoulder. Some companies may choose to hire the services of an assistant with fast typing skills to help with these types of applications, which generally are referred to as Computer-Aided Real Time Captioning (or CART).

Joe uses his computer for a lot of other things, too, of course. He'll continue to communicate by sending e-mail, using discussion groups and listservs, and even chat groups and instant messaging. (These optional internet services are covered by the cost of the provider service and are already available in most offices.) Joe can use these alternative methods to answer customer questions and give advice/directions to other staff assisting on shared projects.

QWERTY Corp. has missed Joe during his long recuperation--and they're looking forward to having him back on board full time.