Employees Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Perceptions of Workplace Accommodations

Authors

Cassandra Lempka, University of Northern ColoradoFollow

Faculty Sponsor

Jill Bezyak

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to measure the effectiveness of existing employment accommodations required by the Americans with Disabilities Act for employees who are Deaf or hard of hearing. Participants completed an online survey in which they identified with one of four levels of hearing loss and selected from descriptions of workplace accommodations. Each selection was ranked according to perceived importance and satisfaction. Accommodations that showed any significance of importance were endorsed by 18% or less of the respondents. The most important accommodations were computer assisted note-taking (18%) and flashing alarms (11%). Participants reported high satisfaction with most of the accommodations necessary to their job performance, but Deaf awareness training (36%) and coworker taking notes (29%) showed low satisfaction levels. As this study was limited, further research is necessary to draw significant conclusions that will lead to refining the ADA required workplace accommodations for Deaf or Hard of Hearing employees.

Recommended Citation

Lempka, Cassandra (2019) "Employees Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing: Perceptions of Workplace Accommodations," Ursidae: The Undergraduate Research Journal at the University of Northern Colorado: Vol. 5: No. 2, Article 6.
Available at: https://digscholarship.unco.edu/urj/vol5/iss2/6

UNCO Undergraduate Verification

1