Deaf worksite or hearing worksite??? MONEY TALK!!!

Driving Miss Daisy

Driving Miss Daisy

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Let say you are 100% Deaf (Deaf-power,) do you want to work at deaf-friendly work environment, where they pay you very low or do you want to work at NOT-deaf-friendly work environment, where they give you a BIG salary rate?

Picture this

Deaf work environment: everyONE signs ASL even managers & supervisors too. Hearing workers such as handy men/janitors and security guards know some signs and finger spelling words (otherwise they will be so LEFT OUT.) ALL consumers are deaf and have on-staff sign language interpreters. NO communication barrier.
Position: Case manager for deaf clients
Their salary rate: $27,500 a year

Hearing work environment: you are the ONLY deaf person in the whole building. No one signs. No on-staff interpreter. Manager/supervisors are struggling to provide you deaf devices: no vp, no webcam, block IP-Relay and AIM (very strict with firewall,) but have TTY from 90’s!
Position: Case manager for deaf clients
Their salary rate: $40,000 a year


Which you will pick? And why.
 
Deaf work environment, of course!!
Why? Well, it's simple... I have to work where I can be happy doing what I like to do, right?
 
If I were fluent enough in ASL, then I would choose a deaf worksite, but I think there ought to be a happy medium where there are hearing and deaf and all access for the deaf and hoh. Have both deaf and hearing in upper level management and everyone treated equally. I know - in a perfect world. I do realize that some places of emplyment already do some of what I mentioned and that's great. It's just that more businesses should feel comfortable about hiring a deaf person.
 
OH man that is a tough decision due to $$$. I rather working with deaf people however, i am in a hearing workfield more than 15 yrs for real. eh
 
well, I can get by with TTY ... if no tty, I'll take the deaf job.

But it also depend on what type of job it is. If it is about helping other people, I'll take the lower paying job.If it is about building up jobs for the deaf, I'll take it too as long as I'm not stealing jobs from fluent ASL deaf ..
 
Since I work at a deaf school with lower pay than public school teachers, the answer is obvious.
 
shel90 said:
Since I work at a deaf school with lower pay than public school teachers, the answer is obvious.
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Found out that around here, some of the teachers with 15 years in the school system are still only making $32,000 a year. :eek3:
 
I would rather work in a deaf worksite than trying to work in hearing worksite where I have to use the phone which I could not use. I have to rely on TDD/TTY to communicate if I can use the relay operators with hearing people. At the hearing worksite, it is not fair when a person had to work as a case manager working with deaf clients whether ASL or oral. We need these accommodations to get by with the workload in the hearing worksite. Easy way to do that is calling ADA. That is the law. Right? :(
 
Well, the Australian Taxation Office in Melbourne had this pilot program established for the deaf.

I was employed under this pilot program. It was really good to have deaf colleagues to work with and have team leader who's hearing but can signs. Also there were few hearies who wanted to learn some signs. The environment was good for a while. But now I'm not there for variety of reasons. The pay's alright.

But now if I had to work with those two options then I'll try both and see which fits me the best. Like KristinaB said a medium of the two will be nice.

I can't believe that America continues to underpaid the teachers! In Australia the starting pay for a first year teacher starts at $40 to 45 thousands and rises each year you continues to teach. Example if you were teaching for 10 years then you can expect to get paid $60 thousand dollars or so.
 
If you can't live on $27,000 a year you can't manage your money. And is $40,000 such a big deal? After taxes you will get $8 or $9,000 more a year than the guy earning $27,000.

By the time you drive a slightly better car, live in a slightly better house, and wear slightly better clothes you won't have any money left to do anything worth the effort.

My $0.02
 
Berry said:
If you can't live on $27,000 a year you can't manage your money. And is $40,000 such a big deal? After taxes you will get $8 or $9,000 more a year than the guy earning $27,000.

By the time you drive a slightly better car, live in a slightly better house, and wear slightly better clothes you won't have any money left to do anything worth the effort.

My $0.02
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That is true, but would it be worth being happy in a hearing environment where the deaf person working as a case manager where there is no access to the needed accommodations for the Deaf person? That is not a good environment for a deaf person working like this. In the deaf worksite, it has everything that the deaf need to function better working happy with that conditions. Don't tell us that we can not manage our money and that $40,000 will make our work environment happy for us with no access to our needs. Then you have no idea how we had or have suffer in the hearing worksite. You don't know what it is like to be deaf. Get real! :roll:
 
Interesting responses here. Working at hearing worksite is difficult, but when you have a huge caseload of deaf clients, it would change the whole point of view. It will be more difficult if deaf worker work at hearing worksite and work with hearing people. I know I would die from boredom and high blood pressure due to stress heh.

There are NOT many resources that are available for the deaf in general. Therefore, agencies hired one deaf worker to work with deaf clients Keep in mind that deaf clients need deaf workers or hearing workers that are trained in ASL at not-deaf-friendly environments. So “only me deaf here” can’t be selfish. Maybe in the future, if the program is growing and have more grants, they will hire more deaf workers!
 
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Berry said:
If you can't live on $27,000 a year you can't manage your money. And is $40,000 such a big deal? After taxes you will get $8 or $9,000 more a year than the guy earning $27,000.

By the time you drive a slightly better car, live in a slightly better house, and wear slightly better clothes you won't have any money left to do anything worth the effort.

My $0.02
Click to expand...

Plus pay to get hearing aid supplies and such in order to keep up with hearing people. Some jobs expect you to look very professional, so they like you to buy nice looking clothes. Sometimes I'm lucky to find some at the thift store, and sometimes I have to buy them at a regular store. sometimes $27,000 isn't enough because we have to pay more because we are deaf. Things we need are considered a luxury for the hearing word -- we need text messaging while they get cellphone/landline/etc. And text messaging cost MORE!

or vibrating baby monitor... or flashing fire alarm... etc.
 
Berry said:
If you can't live on $27,000 a year you can't manage your money. And is $40,000 such a big deal? After taxes you will get $8 or $9,000 more a year than the guy earning $27,000.

By the time you drive a slightly better car, live in a slightly better house, and wear slightly better clothes you won't have any money left to do anything worth the effort.

My $0.02
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I know. thats why i am stuck working in the hearing workfield that pays not bad. I ve been looking for a job that is for deaf workfield but all of them pays too low than my currently salary. so i m stuck with my current work. oh well.
 
40k$ pshhh....

Start at 50k$ and then we'll talk.
 
Bebonang said:
That is true, but would it be worth being happy in a hearing environment where the deaf person working as a case manager where there is no access to the needed accommodations for the Deaf person? That is not a good environment for a deaf person working like this. In the deaf worksite, it has everything that the deaf need to function better working happy with that conditions. Don't tell us that we can not manage our money and that $40,000 will make our work environment happy for us with no access to our needs. Then you have no idea how we had or have suffer in the hearing worksite. You don't know what it is like to be deaf. Get real! :roll:
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I think there is a miscommunication here.

And I do NOT think Deaf or not Deaf is the real question here. I think I think the real question is do you prefer to be more comfortable or make more money.

I recently turned down a promotion that would have netted me $6,000 more a year because I didn't feel dealing with the supervisor was worth the extra money.

So I stand with comfort.





Lighthouse77 said:
Plus pay to get hearing aid supplies and such in order to keep up with hearing people. Some jobs expect you to look very professional, so they like you to buy nice looking clothes. Sometimes I'm lucky to find some at the thift store, and sometimes I have to buy them at a regular store. sometimes $27,000 isn't enough because we have to pay more because we are deaf. Things we need are considered a luxury for the hearing word -- we need text messaging while they get cellphone/landline/etc. And text messaging cost MORE!

or vibrating baby monitor... or flashing fire alarm... etc.
Click to expand...

Now this is a real rub and it would seem there should be some recourse.





Frisky Feline said:
I know. thats why i am stuck working in the hearing workfield that pays not bad. I ve been looking for a job that is for deaf workfield but all of them pays too low than my currently salary. so i m stuck with my current work. oh well.
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Being unhappy has a cost that is horrible. When I was young I found field work an acceptable way of life rather than tied to a 9-5 job.




TheWriteAlex said:
40k$ pshhh....

Start at 50k$ and then we'll talk.
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I believe $50K and below is poverty level nowadays. I been poverty level and below most my life -- Still fed and clothed my family.
 
Berry said:
I believe $50K and below is poverty level nowadays. I been poverty level and below most my life -- Still fed and clothed my family.
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My hubby and I have been living on less than $30,000 for the last 17 years, since we married. It is not easy and we are very much in debt. We make less now that we are back in Florida and the cost of living is so high. He took a pay cut from $16.75/hr to $7.75 just to be here to help his mother. He is the only child.

I made a mistake on the salary of the teacher I mentioned in the other post I had. It's not $27,000, but $40,000. Here is the link to the article.

Palm Beach County teachers protest salary freezes wearing 'bleeding red', pleading with board member
 
Berry said:
Being unhappy has a cost that is horrible. When I was young I found field work an acceptable way of life rather than tied to a 9-5 job.
.
Click to expand...


I did not say that I am unhappy working here. I am comfortable in working with them. I only state that i rather working with deaf people where we can communicate through ASL instead of many different ways of having interpreter, writing notes, shortly speaking, body language, IM, email and go on. Indeed, I am glad they are treating me OK because they know that they can't screw up with me. ;)
 
Another possibility: work at a job you enjoy and pays well.

Job satisfaction and good pay are not always mutually exclusive.
 
I work with hearing co workers for almost 10 years so.. I'm better off working with hearing people but yeah it can get lonely but I refuse to work with deaf people after they always will try to bring problems even drama into workplace... like that happeened to me almost 7 years ago with a stupid deaf co-worker but after all I still don't trust her but i just stay neuture..(sp) not get invovled into problems with her again.. hey nobody is perfect anyway :)
 
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