Sanderson, Robert G

English

Western Connecticut State University: WestCollections - digitalcommons@wcsu

JADARA 
Volume 3 
Number 5 Monograph No. 2 Feb 1970 Article 17 
November 2019 
Job and Career Review for the Deaf Employee 
Robert G. Sanderson 
Coordinator, Services for the Deaf Office of Rehabilitation Services Utah State Board of Education, Salt 
Lake City, Utah 
Follow this and additional works at: https://repository.wcsu.edu/jadara 
Recommended Citation 
Sanderson, R. G. (2019). Job and Career Review for the Deaf Employee. JADARA, 3(5). Retrieved from 
https://repository.wcsu.edu/jadara/vol3/iss5/17 
JOB AND CAREER REVIEW FOR THE
DEAF EMPLOYEE
ROBERT G. SANDERSON
Coordinator, Services for the Deaf
Office of Rehabilitation Services
Utah State Board of Education
Salt Lake City, Utah
Job and career review is suggestive of several areas of
concern to persons working in rehabilitation fields with deaf
clients. Some of these areas include underemployment (either
known or suspected), effective follow-up on placement, ap
propriate initial job placement, and accurate definition and
description of employment positions. Other areas might come
r^dily to mind, but for the purpose of this brief paper,
these areas appear timely.
Techniques and Procedures, Professional counselors work
ing with deaf persons may find that all of their professional
skills are called into play; however none of these skills will
work unless there is effective communication between coun
selor and client. This point has been stressed and re-stressed
recently, and probably needs no further elaboration at this
point other than a listing of the various modes that must be
used in order to meet the individual at the level he functions.
These modes include carefully controlling speech to facilitate
lipreading, using written language at appropriate levels for
ea^y comprehension, employing formal and ideamatic sign
language, mastering fingerspelling, and then combining these
modes to communicate effectively.
Counseling, As professional counselors, you are aware of
the psychological, social and medical basis for counseling, and
its innumerable facets in interpersonal relationships. Theories
sometimes prove to be unstable basis for counseling deaf per
sons, but where there is adequate communication and good
old horse sense, the counselor should be able to ascertain the
situation in which the client exists, the client's problems, his
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Sanderson: Job and Career Review for the Deaf Employee
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JOB AND CAREER REVIEW FOR THE DEAF EMPLOYEE 75
needs or desires, and his attitudes toward himself. The prin
ciple here is that the counselor must fully understand the deaf
client and the situation in which he lives. This is essential
before effective help may be given.
Investigation. Before a counselor may get a client inte
rested in a particular job or career, there must be considerable
knowledge of the background data. This will include, among
other things, talks with the client's present eniployer if he is
employed, with school authorities if feasible, with the welfare
caseworker if he is on welfare, and with the emplojmient ser
vice to determine past efforts at job placement, if any. Al
ways the counselor should ask "Why?" Why is the client un
happy? Why is he unemployed or underemployed?
Evaluation. There are a very few evaluation centers in
the country capable of comprehensive evaluation of a deaf
person; the chances are that the counselor will have to de
pend upon his own resources. The counselor who has had
training in administration and interpretation of various psy
chological tests may wish to do the toting himself, but where
good clinical services are available—where the psychologist
's aware of the pitfalls inherent in testing language deficient
deaf persons and can adequately communicate wich the deaf—
such services should be purchased.
There are mixed feelings with respect to the General
Aptitude Test Battery as administered by state employment
services. The verbal and numerical portions, and the scoring
of the test, discriminate against those who are deficient in
language. However, when the counselor is aware of these
factors, the GATB proves to be a useful instrument when in
terpreted carefully. Its usefulness is extended by its coded re^
lationship to hundreds of occupations listed in the Dictionary
of Occupational Titles (DOT).
Thus, proper application of the GATB enables a counselor
to determine the general levels between which the client may
be able to function, and relate this to a broad range of occu
pations for which the client could be trained. It is unfortunate
that the U. S. Employment Service keeps such a tight lid on
this test battery; more general usage and experimentation by
independent researchers might refine and develop it as a use
ful instrument in the testing of deaf people. One of its pre
sent drawbacks is that it "confirms what we already know"
about the deaf person.
The client must be carefully guided to accept realistic
goals once its aptitudes are determined. The knowledge of
his own skills and limitations must be shared with him.
Jobs and Careers. What is available in the community?
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JADARA, Vol. 3, No. 5 [1970], Art. 17
https://repository.wcsu.edu/jadara/vol3/iss5/17
JOB AND CAREER REVIEW FOR THE DEAF EMPLOYEE
The tremendous diversity of industry in the United States
has created countless occupations. Many occupations are eli
minated daily, and still others of entirely different nature
are created. It is the counselor's responsibility to be able to
help the client understand something of the nature of fhia
rapid technological change, of the necessity for upgrading
skills through training, and of selecting from occupations
within his aptitude levels. And this interpretation must be
presented to him at the level of his understanding; specifi-
c^ly, the level of language usage must be adjusted to the indi
vidual's language skills.
One of the more difficult tasks of the counselor is to sur
vey the occupational picture of the community. He should go
out and meet personnel managers, visit plants, and actually
get a picture of what is going on. This is difficult because of
the practical limitations of time and caseload paperwork; but
it is important to be able to describe a general job or career,
the working conditions of that job, and other factors to a client
who is interested in making a career decision. The ideal case-
l(^d of deaf persons would permit the counselor sufficient
time for essential field work so that effwtive and meaningful
rehabilitation could be accomplished. The emphasis must al
ways be on rehabilitation, not production of closures.
Other resources for job descriptions include career book
lets such as those published by the New York Life Insurance
Company several years ago. Concise descriptions tell what a
job or career involves, what training is required, what sala
ries can be expected, and what kind of a person will fit thejob. The State Employment Service publishes occupational
outlook pamphleta and brochures which will assist the counse
lor in keeping him aware of job trends.
I would like to call attention to a segment of the deaf
community that is frequently overlooked in our developing
body of literature on deafness rehabilitation: those persons
who suffered hearing loss in adulthood. Many have established
jobs and community attachments. Their communication han
dicap is receptive rather than expressive. Often the real han
dicapping aspects of the disability do not hit them until they
are displaced, or decide to change jobs for one reason or an
other; then they find that life is not quite so simple as it
once seemed. Despite much publicity on the value of hiring the
handicapped, employers are still reluctant. Frequently, these
deafened adults find their social life slowly shrinking. They
know little or nothing of the organized deaf community, and
probably would not make an effort to join it even if they did
since this would require further adjustments. Yet, the counse
lor should be aware of and alert to the advantages of a cer-
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Sanderson: Job and Career Review for the Deaf Employee
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JOB AND CAREER REVIEW FOR THE DEAF EMPLOYEE 77
tain amount of mingling of these clients with other deaf peo
ple. These people frequently need social and adjustment re
habilitation quite as much as job placement.
This topic has only been approached from the most ob
vious directions and could be expanded very easily to book
proportions. Perhaps an attack on some of these apparent
problems will lead to more insightful services for deaf people.
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JADARA, Vol. 3, No. 5 [1970], Art. 17
https://repository.wcsu.edu/jadara/vol3/iss5/17


Job and Career Review for the Deaf Employee

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Job and Career Review for the Deaf Employee

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