Answer to "Why prefer deaf?"
It's not that we necessarily prefer deaf over hearing, but I would like to have some deaf colleagues among our staff for several reasons.
1. I have a number of deaf friends and I find then to be energetic people with a high degree of motivation and integrity. Those are the kind of people we want to hire.
2. Jobs available to deaf people are limited, much more than they need to be, so why shouldn't we try to offset some of the bias among the hearing by making a special effort to make our job openings available to the deaf?
3. In general, the three of us who own AgileTek want to be open to hiring programmers who have the skills to do the job, but have significant challenges in their quest for meaningful careers for one reason or another.
4. Although we are a small company (about 20 people), if we had a deaf colleague or two, that would be 20 more people who would come to understand the deaf community and learn to communicate with the deaf, at least to some degree.
