The standpoint of persons with hearing loss on work disparities and workplace accommodations

Abstract

OBJECTIVES:The perspectives of persons who live and work with hearing loss were sought to examine workplace accommodation challenges and strategies. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of seven older adults with hearing loss participated in in-depth interviews. METHODS: A systematic grounded theory approach informed the study design and analysis. Categories of facilitators and challenges in the data were identified through axial coding and clustering. Core categories of social processes emerged through constant comparison and theoretical sampling of the data to reveal the actions and interactions used to negotiate or implement adaptations or workplace accommodations. RESULTS: Persons with hearing loss use a realm of strategies to live and work with a hearing loss. Social processes used to navigate the challenges to working with hearing loss and to manage optimal work performance included: self-accommodation, self-advocacy, self-management of hearing loss, and lobbying. CONCLUSIONS: Success in overcoming work disparities for persons with hearing loss requires individuals to take control of identifying their needs within the workplace and at home, and to negotiate for specific accommodations. These strategies and processes draw attention to the need for a repository on contextualized workplace accommodation strategies for improving communication and hearing in the workplace. Further to this a best practice guide for use by workers, employers, and work rehabilitation and health care workers is indicated.

Working life trajectories with hearing impairment

“…The lack of access to adequate service providers, particularly, services with audiological knowhow, was a major barrier to sustainable participation, thus confirming previous research [22]. Danermark and Gellerstedt [27] found in a cross-sectional study that employees with hearing impairments reported higher demands and lower control in stressful work than their normalhearing peers, and the authors claimed a need for more intense aural rehabilitation.…”

“…Such knowledge tended to be a key to self-efficacy, but was frequently accessed coincidentally. A lack of access to knowledge of how to enable efficient work accommodation processes in employees with hearing impairments has been found previously [22]. Thus, to avoid exhaustion it seems pivotal to access knowledge earlier and thus limit the time spent in the pre-acknowledgement phase.…”

Employees with hearing impairment. A qualitative study exploring managers’ experiences

“…Employees with hearing impairments have been found to use a variety of strategies to sustain work performance [15]. The strategies used were self-accommodation, self-advocacy, self-management, and lobbying.…”

The Roles of Human Resource Development in Developing the Whole Person with Disabilities: A Conceptual Model

“…Persons with disabilities employ various strategies to be successful in the workplace. In some cases, persons with disabilities try to cover up the disabilities to maintain the status quo in the workplace (Baldridge & Kulkarni, 2017;Shaw, Tetlaff, Jennings, & Southall, 2013). Baldridge and Kulkarni (2017) discuss how persons with disabilities maintain careers and achieve success following the onset of the disabilities by modifying job roles and relying on support from social networks.…”

“…Through self-accommodation, persons with disabilities develop their own strategies for overcoming their disabilities. Lobbying involves working outside the organization to encourage change (Shaw et al, 2013). Lysaght, Fabrigar, Larmour-Trode, Stewart, and Friesen (2012) report that social To take full advantage of the abilities of persons with disabilities, organizations need to engage, empower, and embrace the employees in the workplace.…”