As I stare at the ceiling from my bed at two o'clock in the morning, I'm wondering what will I do with the rest of my life concerning my career goals. I have much experience with computers and yet I'm wondering just how I'm able to be competitive when it comes to getting an interview for hopefully the job of my dreams. My dream is to one day become a software developer and I'm currently working on a Computer Programming Associates degree. My concern is that my inability to hear will hinder my chances at an interview. I can imagine me and another person with the same credentials going head to head for the same job only that other person can hear and I can't. I wonder whom the employer to be will choose in the end? Then I have all these doubts about getting the opportunity to be a software developer, wondering just how I will communicate with other co-workers. Before I lost my hearing, I was an outgoing type person who easily made friends. Now, being hearing impaired/deaf I've become a more introverted person. Communication is the key, now if only I could figure out just how to do that. After talking with my psychologist, I was given the advice to use more sign language as I speak to others. That way I'm learning new signs all the time expecially when the other person also knows sign language. Truth is, interpreters are good for me to observe and deaf individuals are great for me to practice with. So, I've got to involve myself within the deaf community. Another dream is to be able to use an interpreter while I'm at work. But who would provide such a service?
Luckily, there is a State Agency called the Division of Services for The Deaf and The Hard Of Hearing. They have been a tremendous help regarding deaf advocacy. That office provides the deaf community with technology devices such as a Captel Telephone (which displays spoken words on a screen so that the deaf individual will know what the hearing person is saying). Another handy device that the Agency provides is a strobe light (which is wired to your door bell and when it is pressed, the strobe light glistens), and yet another handy device the Agency provides is a vibrating device that is attached to a clock to be used as an alarm clock (that one puts under their pillow and when the alarm sounds, the vibrator goes off shacking the pillow to wake the deaf individual) so that they are not late for work. There are all sorts of technical devices that is offered by this Agency. Which reminds me, they even have a small hand-held keyboard used for communicating with a hearing person. I guess one could say, "Technology really is our friend." In thinking about all of this, there really is a way I could lead a productive life.
Individuals that are born deaf lead very productive lives. It's much easier for them because they grew up within the deaf culture. As I've mentioned in my previous writings, a person who becomes deaf late in life has a much harder time adjusting. After four years of being deaf, I'm still adjusting and it is definitely not easy.
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