Miss-Delectable
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http://www.ntid.rit.edu/media/full_text.php?article_id=514
Risk Tech’s Jim Hutchings volunteered at a recent workshop that was co sponsored by JPMorgan Chase AcccessAbility Resource Center (AARC) and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).This all-day program provided deaf and hard of hearing students an opportunity to see what the business world was like and what goes into a normal day here at the bank.
“The event was a great success,” said Jim. “Everyone learned a lot—not only about communication with the deaf, but also about communication in general.”
Students ‘shadowed’ volunteer employees, following them around in their normal business day. One group participated in a conference call with Houston, which turned out to be an interesting and somewhat challenging experience for both student and employees. The call provided an excellent segue to the Employee Networking Group’s sponsored afternoon presenations, where RIT Faculty talked about working and communicating with deaf and hard of hearing colleagues. Here are some useful tips they presented:
Group situations
• Let deaf employees determine the best seating arrangement to see the speaker and/or interpreter
• Ensure that one person speaks at a time
• Speak clearly and slowly
• Have minutes or notes taken for future reference
One-on-one
• Clearly explain the topic of conversation and do so again when the topic changes
• Be patient
• Be prepared to repeat and rephrase important information
• Use facial expressions and body language to communicate the emotion of a message
In Jim’s opinion, working with the deaf and hard of hearing makes everyone a better communicator because it forces you to look for alternate forms of communication, like Sametime and email. “In a global company there are many obstacles to effective communication beyond just the obvious language barriers,” said Jim. “If you can’t speak someone else’s language, you can’t get your message across. Working with people that are different from you forces you to find different ways to connect.”
For more information, visit JPMorgan’s AccessAbility website, or RIT’s website on group and one-on-one communications (www.rit.edu/nce)
Risk Tech’s Jim Hutchings volunteered at a recent workshop that was co sponsored by JPMorgan Chase AcccessAbility Resource Center (AARC) and the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT).This all-day program provided deaf and hard of hearing students an opportunity to see what the business world was like and what goes into a normal day here at the bank.
“The event was a great success,” said Jim. “Everyone learned a lot—not only about communication with the deaf, but also about communication in general.”
Students ‘shadowed’ volunteer employees, following them around in their normal business day. One group participated in a conference call with Houston, which turned out to be an interesting and somewhat challenging experience for both student and employees. The call provided an excellent segue to the Employee Networking Group’s sponsored afternoon presenations, where RIT Faculty talked about working and communicating with deaf and hard of hearing colleagues. Here are some useful tips they presented:
Group situations
• Let deaf employees determine the best seating arrangement to see the speaker and/or interpreter
• Ensure that one person speaks at a time
• Speak clearly and slowly
• Have minutes or notes taken for future reference
One-on-one
• Clearly explain the topic of conversation and do so again when the topic changes
• Be patient
• Be prepared to repeat and rephrase important information
• Use facial expressions and body language to communicate the emotion of a message
In Jim’s opinion, working with the deaf and hard of hearing makes everyone a better communicator because it forces you to look for alternate forms of communication, like Sametime and email. “In a global company there are many obstacles to effective communication beyond just the obvious language barriers,” said Jim. “If you can’t speak someone else’s language, you can’t get your message across. Working with people that are different from you forces you to find different ways to connect.”
For more information, visit JPMorgan’s AccessAbility website, or RIT’s website on group and one-on-one communications (www.rit.edu/nce)