[Senate Hearing 112-870]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 112-870
LEVERAGING HIGHER EDUCATION TO IMPROVE EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES FOR PEOPLE
WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING
=======================================================================
FIELD HEARING
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
ON
EXAMINING LEVERAGING HIGHER EDUCATION TO IMPROVE EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES
FOCUSING ON PEOPLE WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING
__________
OCTOBER 11, 2011 (Washington, DC)
__________
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COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
TOM HARKIN, Iowa, Chairman
BARBARA A. MIKULSKI, Maryland MICHAEL B. ENZI, Wyoming
JEFF BINGAMAN, New Mexico LAMAR ALEXANDER, Tennessee
PATTY MURRAY, Washington RICHARD BURR, North Carolina
BERNARD SANDERS (I), Vermont JOHNNY ISAKSON, Georgia
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania RAND PAUL, Kentucky
KAY R. HAGAN, North Carolina ORRIN G. HATCH, Utah
JEFF MERKLEY, Oregon JOHN McCAIN, Arizona
AL FRANKEN, Minnesota PAT ROBERTS, Kansas
MICHAEL F. BENNET, Colorado LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
SHELDON WHITEHOUSE, Rhode Island MARK KIRK, Illinois
RICHARD BLUMENTHAL, Connecticut
Daniel E. Smith, Staff Director
Pamela Smith, Deputy Staff Director
Frank Macchiarola, Republican Staff Director and Chief Counsel
(ii)
?
C O N T E N T S
__________
STATEMENTS
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2011
Page
Committee Members
Harkin, Hon. Tom, Chairman, Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions, opening statement......................... 1
Enzi, Hon. Michael B., a U.S. Senator from the State of Wyoming,
opening statement.............................................. 3
Witnesses--Panel I
Hurwitz, T. Alan, Ph.D., President, Gallaudet University,
Washington, DC................................................. 5
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Buckley, Gerard J., Ph.D., President, National Technical
Institute for the Deaf, Vice President and Dean, Rochester
Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY......................... 18
Prepared statement........................................... 21
Witnesses--Panel II
Bravin, Seth, Accessibility Strategy and Solutions Expert, IBM
Human Ability and Accessibility Center, Frederick, MD.......... 33
Prepared statement........................................... 35
Ellis, Michael J., National Director, Sprint Relay, Denver, CO... 43
Prepared statement........................................... 45
Hanaumi, Leila, Student, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC.... 48
Prepared statement........................................... 51
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Statements, articles, publications, letters, etc.:
Maya Ariel................................................... 60
Hannah Worek................................................. 61
National Association of the Deaf (NAD)....................... 63
Response to questions of Senator Enzi by:
T. Alan Hurwitz, Ph.D.................................... 64
Gerard J. Buckley, Ph.D.................................. 67
IBM...................................................... 71
Michael J. Ellis......................................... 72
Letter from the Consortium for Citizens With Disabilities
(CCD)...................................................... 74
(iii)
LEVERAGING HIGHER EDUCATION TO IMPROVE EMPLOYMENT OUTCOMES FOR PEOPLE
WHO ARE DEAF OR HARD OF HEARING
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TUESDAY, OCTOBER 11, 2011
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
Washington, DC.
The committee met, pursuant to notice, at 1:11 p.m., at the
Kellogg Conference Center, Gallaudet University, 800 Florida
Avenue, N.E., Washington, DC, Hon. Tom Harkin, chairman of the
committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Harkin and Enzi.
Opening Statement of Senator Harkin
The Chairman. The Senate Committee on Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions will come to order.
First, I want to thank all of you for being here now at
this very important meeting. We want to make sure that all
people have jobs in the future. How do you say ``good jobs?''
Good jobs? OK. Good jobs. Good jobs.
[Laughter.]
[Applause.]
Also, we are making history here today. I will let the
interpreter work, OK?
[Laughter.]
We are making history. It's the first time, first time a
congressional committee has met for an official hearing and
every witness is deaf. First time.
[Applause.]
I will make an opening statement, short, I hope, and then I
will turn it over to Senator Enzi for his opening statement.
But let me just say how proud I am to be back at Gallaudet.
This is a wonderful school and has a rich history. And I have
so many fond memories of my involvement with Gallaudet, none
more important than the Deaf Now movement. I forgot how long
ago that was. What year?
Voice. 1988.
The Chairman. Oh, that is a long time ago.
[Laughter.]
But it was a wonderful experience, a wonderful experience.
And now Gallaudet has moved on and still doing new things. I am
very proud of that.
The title of this hearing is ``Leveraging Higher Education
To Improve Employment Outcomes for People Who Are Deaf or Hard
of Hearing.'' This is the fourth in a series of hearings that
Senator Enzi and I have had to increase the employment
participation rate for all people; for all individuals with
disabilities.
At this hearing, we are focusing on persons who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing, in part because they have achieved greater
success in the labor market than other groups identified by the
U.S. Census Bureau as having disabilities. According to the 1-
year estimates from the Census Bureau's 2010 survey, for 18- to
64-year-olds with hearing disabilities, just over 48 percent
were employed. Of the 3.9 million working-age adults with
hearing disabilities, a little under 2 million of them were
working.
The next highest employment rate by disability category was
the rate for people with vision disabilities, about 37 percent
of whom were employed in 2010. Overall, the employment rate for
persons with disabilities is about 33 percent in America. I
mean, it is awful when we hear unemployment statistics that we
have, what, 9 percent unemployment. Maybe some people say it is
as high as 16 percent unemployment.
But for people with disabilities, it is over 60 percent
unemployment, and for people with hearing disabilities, it is,
about 52 percent. So you have to put that in perspective.
My notes say that Wyoming, Senator Enzi's home State, is
very good. The employment rate for people with hearing
disabilities was 72.4 percent in Wyoming. My State, Iowa, it
was 64 percent. Wyoming was No. 1, followed by North Dakota at
72 percent. Iowa was No. 4. I have to do some more work in my
State.
Let us not gloss over the fact, though, that while we might
be proud that people with hearing disabilities are better
employed, let us keep in mind that there is still 52 percent
unemployment, and that is unacceptable. That is just
unacceptable. But if Wyoming can get 72 percent, why can't the
rest of the country get 72 percent?
I will close with this. In the last couple of years, 3
years, the number of adults with disabilities that dropped out
of the labor force was 804,000. The number of workers without
disabilities went down by 400,000. So, in the last 3 years, for
every person losing work in America, 2 people with disabilities
lost their job.
When we think about going forward and getting employment
back, then the rate of employment for people with disabilities
has to be twice that of people without disabilities. You see
what I mean. We have to make an extra effort to make sure that
it is not just one-for-one, but that we actually do more work
in getting people with disabilities back into the labor force
as we begin to move forward and increase employment in our
country.
Beyond that, we also want to think about the skills and the
education level that people with disabilities need for the
future workforce. When my brother went to the Iowa School for
the deaf, he was told he could be one of three things. He could
be a baker, he could be a cobbler, or he could be a printer's
assistant. That was all.
Well, he didn't want to be any of those things. Times have
changed a lot, and he was able to go on and use his skills to
have a wonderful life and a good job. But it wasn't because of
what he was taught. It was sort of self-learned or learned on
the job as he progressed through life.
But now we have to make sure that our schools--Gallaudet,
NTID, other schools--that we make sure that kids have the skill
set for the new kinds of jobs in the future and to make sure
that we (society) provides the support services so that
individuals who are hard-of-hearing or who are deaf can use
their skills to the maximum. And technology has done a lot to
help that, but we have to make sure that those support services
are in place so that people can achieve their highest
potential.
I want to thank President Hurwitz, whose father went to
school with my brother at the Iowa School for the deaf and who,
himself, is from Sioux City, IA. I thank him for hosting us
here today and for NTID, for being here.
On our second panel, we have employees who have gone on to
have really good jobs at IBM and Sprint, and they are showing
how they can make sure that workplaces are accommodating of
individuals with disabilities. Leila Hanaumi will also be on
our second panel, a senior here at Gallaudet. I met her today
and also met her earlier in my office.
She will tell us--what does the younger generation need?
What are the aspirations, the goals of the younger generation
of those who are hard-of-hearing or who are deaf?
We are going to have, I think, some really good testimony,
and I look forward to it. And with that, I will turn it over to
Senator Enzi for his opening statement.
Opening Statement of Senator Enzi
Senator Enzi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
And thank you, Dr. Hurwitz and Dr. Buckley and your staffs
and all they have done to help arrange today's field hearing.
Chairman Harkin and I are very appreciative that each of you,
as well as the students and faculty of Gallaudet have
graciously agreed to host this--
[Buzzer.]
[Laughter.]
It is very pleasing to see so many students here today,
too. You recognize that education does make a difference.
We each believe that it is important that the committee
have opportunities like this. Not only does it give us a chance
to see firsthand where the real work in education is taking
place, it gives those most impacted by our decisions the
opportunity to participate.
Also, many Americans are struggling to find work.
Unemployment affects certain groups of individuals at a far
greater rate even in the best of times. And this is the fourth
in an ongoing series of hearings focused on barriers to
employment for individuals underrepresented in the workforce.
Today, we will focus on what higher education is doing to
improve employment opportunities for people who are deaf and
hard-of-hearing.
The significance of a college education for everyone has
never been more obvious. As the most recent employment data
show, individuals with a college degree have an unemployment
rate that is nearly half the national average. For people who
are deaf and hard-of-hearing, the difference is even more
pronounced.
According to some estimates, an astounding 60 percent of
the people who are deaf are unemployed today. However, as Dr.
Buckley and Dr. Hurwitz will testify, more than 90 percent of
the National Technical Institute for the deaf and Gallaudet
students who have chosen to enter the workforce are employed or
furthering their education in graduate school.
Furthermore, college graduates who are deaf are
dramatically less dependent on Federal support, including
Supplemental Security Income and Social Security Disability
Insurance. Clearly, deafness is a barrier that can be overcome
by education.
But institutions like Gallaudet and NTID are successful not
just because they provide an education. They also create
opportunities by working with employers and demonstrating the
value of hiring their students.
Today, we hope to learn more about what each school is
doing to overcome these barriers. We want to learn about their
partnerships with private industry. We want to know what is
working, as well as what challenges still have to be addressed.
I am already aware of the difficulty faced by people who
are deaf and hard-of-hearing. My first daughter lost the
ability to hear a wide range of tones due to complications
arisen from being born nearly 3 months premature.
After struggling to just survive, she grew up not able to
hear like others. But our little girl is a fighter, and she was
determined not to let her limited hearing prevent her from
living her life. Among other things, she learned to read lips.
And today, she is a marvelous public school educator in
Wyoming, where her experience includes being a principal in
Chugwater, WY.
She was also involved in a program in which she helped to
teach teachers how to teach better. And as any of you are
thinking about being teachers can believe, the ability to read
lips in a classroom is a good thing for a teacher.
I look forward to today's testimony and learning about the
wonderful work of each of these institutions, as well as how
employers are working to put the many talents of students to
use.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
The Chairman. Thank you very much, Senator Enzi.
Let us introduce our first panel. Dr. Hurwitz became the
10th president of Gallaudet on January 1, 2010. Before that, he
was president of the National Technical Institute for the deaf,
NTID, and vice president and dean of the Rochester Institute of
Technology. Dr. Hurwitz also served in a variety of other roles
at NTID between 1970 and 2009.
He is a former president of the National Association of the
deaf, has lectured extensively, and has been widely published.
Dr. Hurwitz earned a B.S. in electrical engineering from
Washington University in St. Louis, an M.S. in electrical
engineering from St. Louis University, and a Doctorate of
Education from the University of Rochester.
Our second witness, Dr. Gerard Buckley, became president of
NTID on January 1, 2011. He is NTID's first alumnus president.
Congratulations! I didn't know that. Dr. Buckley has more than
30 years of experience in higher education, more than 20 years
at NTID.
Prior to coming to NTID in 1990, Dr. Buckley led Gallaudet
University's regional center in Overland Park, KS. He holds a
B.S. in social work from NTID, an M.S.W. from the University of
Missouri, and a Doctorate of Education from the University of
Kansas.
Dr. Buckley, we welcome you, too.
And so, Dr. Hurwitz, we will start with you. Both of your
written testimonies are made a part of the record in their
entirety, and we would appreciate it if you could sum it up in
5 to 9--if you go over 10 minutes, I will get nervous.
[Laughter.]
STATEMENT OF T. ALAN HURWITZ, Ph.D., PRESIDENT, GALLAUDET
UNIVERSITY, WASHINGTON, DC
Mr. Hurwitz. [The following testimony was delivered through
an interpreter.] I was told that I had 10 minutes. So I will do
my best to stick within those time restraints.
Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi, and distinguished
committee members of the HELP Committee, July 13, 1990 was a
day the U.S. Senate passed the historic Americans with
Disabilities Act. Senator Harkin, at that time, you made this
dedication.
You said,
``I want to dedicate the ADA to the next generation
of children, of children with disabilities and their
parents. We say whatever you decide is your goal, go
for it. The doors are opening, and the barriers are
coming down.''
Senator Enzi, on the 20th anniversary of the enactment of
the ADA, you issued a statement. And the statement said,
``We will continue to ensure that the chance to live
the American dream is an avenue of opportunity that is
available to everyone without exception.''
Senators, just take a look around this room. Here, in this
audience, in Senator Harkin's words, is the next generation. In
fact, I call them ``the ADA generation.'' These are the young
people who truly believe that the ADA stands for ``American
dream for all.''
I would like to ask all of the students who are here in the
audience to stand and be recognized.
[Applause.]
Nowhere else do college students who are deaf or hard-of-
hearing routinely become president of academic clubs, editors
of university publications, captains of the sports teams,
presidents of student government organizations, or lead figures
in theatrical plays.
Several student leaders are here with us today, and I know
that nowhere else in higher education do students find a fully
immersive experience, where they can fully enjoy opportunities
to develop their leadership skills for the workplace. Likewise,
nowhere else in higher education do students find a fully
immersive bilingual education that provides education in both
American Sign Language and English.
All of us recognize the critical role in what Senator Enzi
described as an avenue of opportunity. Our faculty and staff
are committed to empowering our students. We want our students
to leverage their experience and to improve their employment
opportunities.
You have my warm thanks and the warm thanks of our
community for making these opportunities possible. All of us
are pleased and honored to have you here. We welcome you and
the other witnesses to our wonderful campus, and I am delighted
to share this panel with my very good friend and colleague,
President Buckley from NTID, the National Technical Institute
for the deaf. As Senator Harkin said, I worked at NTID for four
decades before joining Gallaudet.
We hope that at the end of this hearing that all of you
will continue to talk about the conversations that we have here
today at Gallaudet. I strongly believe that Gallaudet
University and NTID are outstanding examples of a wise
government investment.
Today, I will be sharing with you some of the outcomes and
returns on that investment. I will also talk about the
challenges and opportunities that we face regarding this ADA
generation's expectations.
Let me broadly describe our diverse student population. You
know, diversity for us is not just a list of differences.
Instead, it means that we accept students who are deaf or hard-
of-hearing from all groups, from all backgrounds, and from all
communication preferences.
Let me share with you the outcome data from a survey of
recent graduates. Ninety-eight percent of graduate level alumni
and 82 percent of bachelor's level alumni stated that they
worked full- or part-time 1 year after graduation, and 95
percent of graduate level alumni and 69 percent of bachelor's
level alumni stated that Gallaudet prepared them for their
occupation.
But let me just say we cannot rest. We must explore new
future pathways. Every day we ask ourselves in what new ways
can we give our students wings to soar?
We are delighted to announce that we are beginning to
develop four new undergraduate programs. These undergraduate
programs are pre-law, pre-medicine, pre-architecture, and pre-
business. These can transform the lives of students who come to
Gallaudet for this undergraduate work. They then can apply to
graduate schools and enter those rewarding professions.
We will give wings to future generations of students. We
will give them the self-confidence to envision success of those
great professions.
Are there any barriers or challenges? Of course, certainly,
there are, and they are fully described in my written
testimony. But let me highlight three for you.
First, to succeed in the classroom and in the workplace,
our students require communication accessibility through
qualified interpreters and technological solutions. And at
Gallaudet, we provide both.
Second, individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing are
not well-represented in the healthcare field, despite
recognized shortages. In June 2010, four partners came together
and formed the Task Force on Healthcare Careers for Deaf and
Hard of Hearing Community Members: Gallaudet University, the
National Technical Institute of the Deaf--and again, we are
working strongly together, as strong partners on this project--
the Rochester General Health Systems, and the University of
Rochester Medical Systems.
We ask the HELP Committee to work with us. We believe that
you can ensure Federal programs targeting diversity in the
healthcare workforce specifically include individuals who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing, and you should also include other
persons with disabilities, along with minority and
disadvantaged students. You also can establish an information
clearinghouse that would provide information about access and
accommodations in healthcare fields.
Third, we are all aware of the barriers to career
advancement into management that our graduates face. In
response, Gallaudet is developing a master's of public
administration degree. It is designed for individuals to work
in public and nonprofit organizations.
The Office of Personnel Management is a very strong
supporter of this program proposal. We turn to the HELP
Committee for advice, for counsel, and ensuring that Federal
employees who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can participate in
these offerings.
I would like to close with the words from Abraham Lincoln,
who signed the Gallaudet charter almost 150 years ago. ``The
Government exists,'' as he says, ``to lift artificial weights
from all shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for
all, to afford all an unfettered start, and a fair chance in
the race of life.''
On behalf of all of us at Gallaudet University, thank you
for your support. Together, we can provide that fair chance. We
can make the American dream a reality for all, including the
ADA generation.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Hurwitz follows:]
Prepared Statement of T. Alan Hurwitz, Ph.D.
SUMMARY
Gallaudet University as an institution of higher education has been
teaching deaf and hard-of-hearing students for nearly 150 years. The
education and opportunities we provide have produced generations of
successful graduates. Gallaudet strives to continue that tradition, in
many ways, including increasing the expectations of, and opportunities
for, our students. One of our current projects that aims to accomplish
this is the establishment of four new professional programs that will
create more deaf lawyers, doctors, architects and business people. By
encouraging students to enter these professions, we will show that we
have high expectations about what they can aspire to and achieve.
Furthermore, they will be able to break down barriers to employment as
members of these professions, and reduce oft-held misconceptions and
erroneous stereotypes held about deaf people.
Gallaudet assists students in a myriad of ways in their transition
from our campus to the workforce. Academically, our standards have
increased and persistence rates have risen, ensuring that more of our
students will have the degrees necessary to obtain employment. We also
have a Career Center that provides different services including, but
not limited to, mentoring for students and hosting job fairs, which
give students the opportunity to meet with prospective employers.
Additionally, Gallaudet has a much higher rate of student internship
placement as compared to the national average, with the majority of our
seniors doing an internship prior to graduation. These internships
provide them with hands-on training prior to their transition to
careers. Furthermore, the ability for students to have unfettered
communication access on our campus gives them the opportunity to be
actively involved in student life and organizations, allowing them to
develop valuable life and leadership skills that will greatly aid them
in the workforce.
Gallaudet is an example of best practices in the use of the most
current technologies, as we strive to continue reducing barriers for
deaf and hard-of-hearing students. We show the endless possibilities of
what can happen when students attend school in an atmosphere of equal
access. This creates an inclusive environment where they can thrive,
become leaders and then transition to the workforce. This idea, and the
successes of Gallaudet, could be replicated across higher education to
achieve greater employment outcomes for students with disabilities.
As a historic institution with a tradition of educating deaf and
hard-of-hearing students, Gallaudet University has been successful in
preparing our graduates to enter the workforce. We have used the
resources given us and produced a valuable return on investment:
capable, confident, workers. We are always striving to do even better,
and will continue to raise the bar and increase the opportunities for
our students. This generation of youth, raised in the era of the
Americans with Disabilities Act, will expect nothing less.
______
Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi, and distinguished members of
the committee. It is an honor for me to appear today to testify on
leveraging higher education to improve employment opportunities for
people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. You have my warm thanks, and
the warm thanks of people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing for the
leadership you have shown on so many issues for this population, and
particularly on the issue of employment. I applaud the outstanding
leadership of Chairman Harkin and Ranking Member Enzi in promoting the
rights of people with disabilities in all aspects of everyday living.
In addition, all of us here at Gallaudet University are also
pleased and honored to welcome you to our wonderful campus for this
hearing. We continue to be grateful for the ongoing support you and
others in Congress have shown to Gallaudet University, and the
significant investment you have made and continue to make to ensure
that deaf and hard-of-hearing students have the best higher education
available that will provide them with entry to significant employment
opportunities. We are delighted to share that Gallaudet experience with
you while you are on campus today.
My name is T. Alan Hurwitz, and I am the president of Gallaudet
University. I have been president of this storied institution since
January 2010. Before coming to Gallaudet, I was president and dean of
the National Technical Institute of the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester
Institute of Technology (RIT), and also vice-president of RIT. I am
fortunate to have had the privilege over many years to be heavily
involved in advancing the rights of deaf and hard-of-hearing people as
well as people with other disabilities. I have served on the board of
many organizations and am past president of the National Association of
the Deaf, the World Organization of Jewish Deaf, and the Rochester
School for the Deaf.
I strongly believe that Gallaudet University and the National
Technical Institute for the Deaf are outstanding examples of a
government investment that makes extraordinary use of the Federal
resources that each member of this committee works so hard to provide
to these institutions.
Allow me to provide a brief review of the long, successful history
of Gallaudet University, which will bolster that statement.
In 1864, our congressional charter was signed by President Abraham
Lincoln. This is a heritage that we take very seriously and a unique
historical distinction that generates great pride at our university.
President Lincoln believed in equality of opportunity and stated so--
although not within the context of Gallaudet University--as follows in
1861 at the onset of the Civil War.
``This is essentially a People's contest. On the side of the
Union it is a struggle for maintaining in the world that form
and substance of government whose leading object is to elevate
the condition of men--to lift artificial weights from all
shoulders, to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all, to
afford all an unfettered start and a fair chance, in the race
of life. Yielding to partial, and temporary departures, from
necessity, this is the leading object of the government for
whose existence we contend.'' \1\ (Italics added.)
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\1\ A familiar quote that appears at many locations, including this
Lincoln Legacy site of the National Park Service: http://www.nps.gov/
liho/historyculture/legacy.htm.
Gallaudet continues, nearly 150 years later, to provide that
``unfettered start and a fair chance, in the race of life'' to enable
deaf and hard-of-hearing students from a variety of backgrounds to
receive advanced education, which leads to successful employment.
At the time Gallaudet was created, education for all in America was
not fully realized. In 1870, 20 percent of the population of the United
States was illiterate while 80 percent of African-Americans were
illiterate.\2\ While literacy figures for people who were deaf and
hard-of-hearing are not available for that period, we can be sure that
the literacy rate was unacceptably low, perhaps similar to the rate
cited for African-Americans. However, deaf education had long been
encouraged in the United States, with the founding of the first
permanent deaf school in 1817 in Hartford, CT. The subsequent
establishment of Gallaudet would provide higher education for deaf
students, which would better empower them for the job market.
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\2\ SOURCE: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census,
Historical Statistics of the United States, Colonial Times to 1970.
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Today, Gallaudet University enrolls 1,546 undergraduate and
graduate level students, and 262 elementary and secondary school
students (in the Model Secondary School for the Deaf and the Kendall
Demonstration Elementary School respectively), for a total of 1,808
students.\3\ Many additional students enroll in our English Language
Institute and in our Professional Studies programs. With students from
nearly every State and over 20 countries, we are an international
university serving the deaf population of many parts of the world.
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\3\ Preliminary Fall 2011, 15-day student census numbers.
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For the record, allow me to include the Gallaudet Mission and
Vision Statement.
Mission
Gallaudet University, federally chartered in 1864, is a
bilingual, diverse, multicultural institution of higher
education that ensures the intellectual and professional
advancement of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals through
American Sign Language and English. Gallaudet maintains a proud
tradition of research and scholarly activity and prepares its
graduates for career opportunities in a highly competitive,
technological, and rapidly changing world.--Approved by the
Board of Trustees--November 2007
Vision
Gallaudet University will build upon its rich history as the
world's premier higher education institution serving deaf and
hard-of-hearing people to become the university of first choice
for the most qualified, diverse group of deaf and hard-of-
hearing students in the world, as well as hearing students
pursuing careers related to deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
Gallaudet will empower its graduates with the knowledge and
practical skills vital to achieving personal and professional
success in the changing local and global communities in which
they live and work. Gallaudet will also strive to become the
leading international resource for research, innovation and
outreach related to deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Gallaudet
will achieve these outcomes through:
A bilingual learning environment, featuring American
Sign Language and English, that provides full access for all
students to learning and communication;
A commitment to excellence in learning and student
service;
A world-class campus in the Nation's capital;
Creation of a virtual campus that expands
Gallaudet's reach to a broader audience of visual learners; and
An environment in which research can grow, develop,
and improve the lives and knowledge of all deaf and hard-of-
hearing people worldwide.--Approved by the Board of Trustees--
May 2009
What is the role of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf and
Gallaudet University in preparing students who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing for the workforce?
Since its establishment, Gallaudet has built on its mission and
vision and has helped deaf and hard-of-hearing people gain employment--
the focus of our hearing today. It has led the way for the world in
higher education for deaf people. We take enormous pride in the many
alumni who have left our university and gone on to prominence, often
with a focus in their lives on ``giving back'' to others less fortunate
who were not able to obtain the start Gallaudet provided to them. For
example:
The husband and wife team of Olof Hanson and Agatha Tiegel
Hanson were both graduates of Gallaudet, Olof in 1886 and Agatha in
1893. Olof would go on to a highly successful career in architecture
and Agatha, one of the first known women to graduate from Gallaudet,
during a time when the number of women in higher education was minimal,
was a successful teacher of students who were deaf.\4\
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\4\ Gallaudet University Deaf Collections and Archives.
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Another alumni, Andrew Foster, the first known African-
American to graduate from Gallaudet, in 1954, took his education into
the workplace and established 31 schools and 2 centers for deaf
children in 13 African nations.\5\
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\5\ Ibid.
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Gregory Hlibok, who graduated in 1989, was named chief of
the Disability Rights Office for the Federal Communications Commission
in November 2010.
Sean Virnig, class of 1997, was recently selected as the
first deaf superintendent of the California School for the Deaf in
Fremont, CA. It is one of the largest schools for the deaf in the
country. In his spare time, he runs Rawland Bicycles, a company he
started up that sells innovative products that he himself designs.
Leah Katz-Hernandez graduated in 2010 and is serving as an
HSC Foundation Youth Transitions Fellow at the American Association of
People with Disabilities.
Vivienne Schroder, who received both her Bachelor's and
Master's degrees from Gallaudet, graduating with her MA in Mental
Health Counseling in 2011, is the Dean of Student Life at the Arizona
State Schools for the Deaf and Blind.
There are countless similar stories of success of Gallaudet
graduates, many of them ``firsts'' in their own right, each reflecting
on our goal of producing well-rounded students who will succeed in life
and in the workforce after gaining at Gallaudet the skills and
confidence needed to overcome societal barriers.
SUCCESSES
As an institution of higher education, we have seen a great deal of
success regarding the employment of our students. Gallaudet conducts
annual surveys of graduates to determine employment experience,
employment fields by occupational category, internship participation,
whether the employment involves service to people who are deaf or hard-
of-hearing and satisfaction with their preparation. Excerpts of data
from the most recent survey indicate the following highlights \6\:
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\6\ Gallaudet University Annual Survey of Recent Graduates, 2009.
Of alumni, 98 percent of graduate degree alumni and 82
percent of bachelor's degree alumni, stated they worked either full-
time or part-time 1 year after graduation.
The percentage of alumni pursuing additional education or
working full or part-time during the year after graduation increased
over the past 3 years.
Of graduate degree alumni who participated in an
internship, 98 percent stated the internship helped them very much or
some for employment after graduation; while 71 percent of bachelor's
degree alumni said the same thing.
Of alumni, 95 percent of graduate-level alumni and 69
percent of bachelor's level alumni stated that Gallaudet prepared them
for their occupation very well or adequately.
Graduates were working in an entire cross section of
employment areas including the following from the Occupational groups
from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Standard Occupational
Classification: management occupations; business and financial
occupations; life, physical, and social science occupations; community
and social services occupations; education, training, and library
occupations; art, design, entertainment, sports, and media occupations;
healthcare support occupations; personal care and service occupations;
sales and related occupations; and office and administrative support
occupations.
These statistics show the success that Gallaudet has had in
preparing our students for the workforce. The resources that are
received and used to educate these students are effective at providing
our graduates with a bright future in their chosen careers.
While there is a great deal of success with our students, I also
want to use this opportunity to identify a number of the barriers our
students face and describe how Gallaudet is working to bring down those
obstacles, and identify areas of need regarding those barriers in which
the committee can be helpful.
NEW OPPORTUNITIES AND PATHWAYS
Providing our students with the means to obtain high quality and
well-paying jobs is pivotal to us as an institution of higher
education. We want Gallaudet graduates to not only get jobs, but to
have fulfilling, enriching careers that will benefit them, and society.
We know too well that the ``professions'' are far underrepresented in
the numbers of people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing entering
professional schools to gain access to these careers.
One of the goals in the Gallaudet Strategic Plan is as follows:
``By 2015, refine a core set of undergraduate and graduate
programs that are aligned with the institutional mission and
vision, leverage Gallaudet's many strengths, and best position
students for career success.''
As we consider additions to our undergraduate curriculum, let me
report on new pathways that we will follow. As a university focusing on
the Liberal Arts, we will build in new ways on the strength of what we
offer, enabling future students to take advantage of our Liberal Arts
education. How can we turn those strengths into theirs? How can we give
these students wings to soar?
We are delighted to announce that we are beginning the process of
developing four new programs that will better position our graduates to
receive advanced degrees and gain professional employment. These
programs are:
1. Pre-Law;
2. Pre-Medicine;
3. Pre-Architecture; and
4. Pre-Business.
These programs can transform the lives of students who pursue them.
We can offer a significant service to students who will come to us for
undergraduate work in the Liberal Arts, Sciences, and Technologies.
When they graduate they can apply to graduate schools to enter these
rewarding professions. We will have provided programs intended to guide
graduates into professional graduate schools.
Imagine the service we can provide to future generations of deaf
and hard-of-hearing students. These offerings will raise the
educational aspirations of these youthful students throughout the
country. How? By raising the expectations of young deaf and hard-of-
hearing students, we will instill in them the potential of coming to
us, graduating, transferring to a professional school, and then
transitioning to work. Imagine the impact!
More deaf lawyers.
More deaf doctors.
More deaf architects.
More deaf business people.
Our vision is to increase the numbers of deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals in these professional areas, stimulating improvement in
their economic well-being and promoting better societal understanding
of deaf and hard-of-hearing adults. We will have given wings to future
generations of deaf and hard-of-hearing students. What are we giving
them? It is the gift of the self-confidence to envision themselves
succeeding in these great professions.
These four new programs will do more than just provide our
graduates with the skills they need to receive advanced degrees and
thrive in highly professional careers. It will show deaf and hard-of-
hearing teenagers, and their family and friends around the country,
that Gallaudet believes in them and has high expectations of them.
Gallaudet knows they can achieve and should aim high. We know that they
can become lawyers, doctors, architects, and businesspeople; they can
achieve whatever they can dream. We know that people who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing are already members of these professional fields; but
we also know from personal experience that their numbers are terribly
small. These programs will increase those numbers, providing deaf
people with high levels of training and skills, and also raising the
bar of expectation for these youth.
Let me briefly describe our vision for each of these programs.
The Pre-Law program will allow this Nation to see a growth
in the number of deaf lawyers who will be able to assist both deaf and
hearing clients in all aspects of legal matters as they obtain advanced
legal knowledge. Rather than limit these individuals to the practice of
disability law, we will encourage these individuals to enter all fields
in which lawyers ably work--even including politics.
A Pre-Medicine degree will of course empower our students
to become doctors, thus providing multiple benefits by increasing the
job options for people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, by providing
the population who are deaf or hard-of-hearing with access to health
care provided by these graduates, and finally benefiting the general
population who will be served by these individuals.
A Pre-Architecture program will give students the
opportunity to put their visual skills to work as they create and plan
the buildings and cities of the future. ``DeafSpace'' is the concept
that begins by describing people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing as
inhabiting a rich sensory world that relies on visual and tactile
sensibilities for spatial awareness and way-finding. The on-going work
at Gallaudet in DeafSpace will provide one of the pillars for the
foundation of our Pre-Architecture program. We know the work in the
area of DeafSpace, like so many other recent changes initially designed
to help a small segment of the population, will in reality be found to
contribute to universal design, and will benefit the larger society.
Our Deaf Space Design Guidelines document fills what we believe is a
void in the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by providing design
guidelines created for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
Last, our Pre-Business degree will give more of our
students the tools they need to continue their education in MBA
programs, and then use their entrepreneurial spirit to begin their own
companies or become recognized industry leaders.
It is our intention that all of these programs will provide our
students with the opportunity to participate more fully in the American
dream through economic empowerment.
Gallaudet understands these programs and other potential new
programs cannot be optimized by standing alone; for that reason, we are
leveraging our relationship with the Consortium of Universities of the
Washington Metropolitan Area, which we intend will allow us to offer
some of these, and other, programs jointly with those other
universities. This collaborative effort is expected to allow each
respective institution to provide their respective skills and knowledge
in ways that utilize each one's strengths. Through course offerings on
our own campus, as well as at other schools in the Consortium, our
students will be able to receive the best education and training in
these fields.
BARRIERS TO PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
At the same time, we are aware of significant barriers to entry to
professional schools. We do not doubt the capabilities of our students
to succeed in these programs, but we are well aware of the added cost--
particularly in the provision of access to communications, usually
through interpreters or real-time text services--which will continue to
prevent the entrance of qualified students to these graduate programs.
Unfortunately we do not have a ready answer for the committee, but
certainly we do pledge to work with the committee on solutions which
may resolve these barriers.
BARRIERS TO HEALTH CARE CAREERS
Gallaudet is proud to be a partner with the National Technical
Institute for the Deaf, the Rochester General Health System, and the
University of Rochester Medical System in the ``Task Force on Health
Care Careers for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community'' which was
formed in June 2010. The description of this group below is taken from
their interim report delivered in June 2011. [I will provide a copy of
the report for your review and consideration].
``The Task Force mission is to provide recommendations that
will increase career opportunities for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
individuals in health care professions. Such professions
include those positions typically requiring associate degree
level training through those requiring graduate and
professional education in a variety of health care fields
(including medical and pharmacological technologies, clinical
care, research, administrative and IT support). The Task Force
was created in response to a national demand for more skilled
health care professionals, a need to improve the quality of
health care services for underserved citizens who are D/HH, and
an acknowledgment of the significant employment barriers that
exist for qualified D/HH individuals in the health care
industry. The Task Force also supports and furthers current
Department of Labor goals that focus on increasing employment
and career advancement opportunities for all workers and
professionals with disabilities.'' \7\
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\7\ ``Building Pathways to Health Care Careers for the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing Community,'' unpublished Interim Report, Short-Term
Recommendations, Task Force on Health Care Careers for the Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing Community, June 2011.
The Report recognizes that unemployment is particularly high among
the deaf and hard-of-hearing population at a time of acute shortages in
health professions. The report also highlights several compelling needs
and includes several short-term recommendations for addressing these
needs. Those recommendations are provided in the following five areas,
quoted from that report, which provide information on barriers to
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success in this field. The five areas are:
1. Develop and implement a coordinated plan of information
dissemination regarding health care careers and needed academic
preparation for deaf and hard-of-hearing students and their parents,
educators and other professionals working with deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals, gatekeepers in educational institutions, and health care
employers.
2. Enhance educational curricula and training programs to assist
deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in preparing for and obtaining
employment in health care professions.
3. Adapt existing employer training programs to address health care
organizations' ability to support the success of deaf and hard-of-
hearing employees and ensure that such modified programs are available
to a broad spectrum of current and prospective organizations that
employ or could employ deaf and hard-of-hearing health care workers.
4. Promote improved access services for deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals within school and workplace settings by supporting the
identification and development of best practices with respect to
specialized interpreting for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals in
health care fields and the increasing array of available technological
applications.
5. Initiate contact with relevant local, State, and Federal
agencies to inform them about the Task Force goals and recommendations
and, as appropriate, ensure that the language of ``eligibility
criteria'' for specific funding opportunities relevant to Task Force
recommendations is inclusive of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals
and the institutions that serve them.
While many of these activities can, and will, be supported and put
into place by the four sponsoring institutions, there are others which
are dependent on outside assistance, such as the HELP Committee, for
support. This Task Force has been funded primarily by Gallaudet and
NTID, with the funds supporting regular travel to meetings, faculty and
staff time for the 28 members and support staff, and travel costs for
the voluntary appearances of many outside professionals at Task Force
meetings. When the group completes its assignment in several months,
the internal funding will no longer be available, and the
implementation of its recommendations will be left to those four
institutions to fund; assistance of the HELP Committee could make a
difference in the completion of this work.
I would like to highlight two related issues that can be addressed
through congressional action.
First, the report highlights the need to maximize
information dissemination about career opportunities in the health care
fields to deaf and hard-of-hearing students and their parents and to
expand and improve the pipeline for such individuals to appropriate
educational opportunities and from education to careers in the health
care fields. Too often, deaf and hard-of-hearing students have not
enjoyed opportunities to work in health care as volunteers, interns,
emergency service workers, nor have they had opportunities to shadow
and be mentored by professionals in health care fields like others have
experienced. I request that you and your staff work with the Task Force
to ensure that our deaf and hard-of-hearing students qualify for
Federal diversity training programs such as Area Health Education
Centers and explore options to provide career exploration opportunities
and information about career opportunities to deaf and hard-of-hearing
students comparable to those provided to minority and disadvantaged
students under existing programs.
Second, the report highlights the need to promote
accessibility and technological solutions that ensure meaningful and
effective access. In order for deaf and hard-of-hearing students to
enter the ``pipeline'' to educational programs and achieve ongoing
career success, they must be able to access information and
instructional processes required to achieve desired goals. While access
to education and employment opportunities, especially the use of sign
language interpreters, are required by the ADA and Section 504 of the
Rehabilitation Act, the reality is that lack of access continues to
hinder deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals from entering into and
succeeding in health care fields. I request that you and your staff
work with the Task Force to identify Federal programs that will allow
the deaf and hard-of-hearing community to establish information
clearinghouses and adopt other strategies to provide information to
health care providers about access and technological solutions that
facilitate access and accommodation in health care fields and create
opportunities for replication of best practices.
BARRIERS TO CAREER ADVANCEMENT INTO MANAGEMENT
We are all aware of various ``ceilings'' that prevent the
advancement of one or another group into management or prevents the
movement from lower management into upper management. People who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing face similar barriers.
Gallaudet is developing a program, the Masters of Public
Administration (MPA) degree, specifically designed for one segment of
this population--deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals working in public
and non-profit sector organizations.
The program is especially appropriate for deaf and hard-of-hearing
professionals working in Federal Government agencies. The faculty
working on the development of this program have worked closely with,
and have the support of, the Federal Office of Personnel Management's
Eastern Management Development Center (EMDC) in Shepherdstown, WV. We
are working to create a collaborative relationship between EMDC and the
Masters of Public Administration program that would allow MPA students
from the Federal workforce to take their elective courses through the
EMDC.
Once approved and offered, we believe this program will prepare
individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing who work in public sector
organizations to lead with a sense of direction, to focus on results,
to develop others' capability to perform, and to serve with integrity.
Once this program is approved, we would appreciate the opportunity
to turn to the HELP Committee for advice and counsel on ensuring that
Federal employees who are deaf and hard-of-hearing have the opportunity
to participate in this offering.
What training and opportunities are available for students of these two
schools to facilitate the transition from school to work, and
promote economic self-sufficiency?
An understanding of our student body will be helpful in
understanding what we do regarding transition from the university to
work and regarding promoting economic self-sufficiency.
Our 99 acres in northeast Washington, DC are a microcosm of
American society. We have students with a variety of backgrounds, who
come from across the Nation, and the world, to attend our University.
Just as American society has experienced challenges throughout our
history and emerged better and stronger, our school has as well,
because of the challenges that deaf and hard-of-hearing students face
on a daily basis.
One of these challenges has been to address paternalism and low
expectations. Low expectations lead students to believe they are not
capable and discourages them from reaching their full potential. The
impact is felt while at the university, during the transition to work,
and while fully at work. At Gallaudet, we constantly strive to address
these issues, and continually increase what is expected of our
students. We have raised our admission and academic standards. For
example in 2006 we had 31 percent of our students whose English levels
required their placement in a ``conditional'' status; by 2011 that
number had dropped to 16 percent. In 2006 our average ACT English
score, math score, and reading score were 14.0, 16.9, and 16.8. By 2011
those three scores had risen to 17.6, 17.9, and 19.7.
Furthermore, as the caliber of students who are enrolling has
risen, our graduation rates have improved, as has persistence. For
example, our retention from year 1 to year 2 rose from 54 percent in
2006 to 70 percent this year. Increasing our standards has not led to
decreasing enrollment, showing that if we have high expectations for
the Nation and the world to see, deaf and hard-of-hearing students will
rise to the challenge.
As the Nation's school placement of deaf and hard-of-hearing
students, main-streamed compared to attendance at a State school for the deaf,
evolves, Gallaudet finds that students are coming here with a wide
variety of educational background and communication languages. A larger
percentage of our undergraduate students come from mainstream schools
than in the past; for example, 4 years ago 68 percent came from schools
for the deaf, and that number is now 56 percent. The same is true for
students who transfer to Gallaudet from other colleges. Many of these
new students do not know American Sign Language.
Gallaudet is a bilingual institution, and we provide these students
the tools to become bilingual through innovative programs like
JumpStart and the New Signers program. Our intention is that all of our
students can become fluent in both American Sign Language and English.
We are also witnessing an increasing number of Deaf Blind/Low vision
students attending our university. Furthermore, the percentage of
students of color as a part of the total student population is on the
rise.
It is clear that Gallaudet has been very effective in serving a
very diverse population of students while continuing to raise our
admission and academic standards. These students represent the future
workforce of our country.
FACILITATING THE TRANSITION THROUGH A CAREER CENTER
The Gallaudet University Career Center is a service unit that
supports our commitment to the education of our students and employers
about how to work with individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing. It
accomplishes its mission by providing students, alumni, employers,
faculty, and staff with expert advising, leadership in experiential
education, current information and resources, and networking
opportunities on and off campus, as well as on-line.
Staffed by career services professionals, information is shared
both within the university and between students and employers at career
events such as Job Fairs. In fact, while this hearing is occurring, our
Career Center is sponsoring a job fair on campus to place students with
companies who are here seeking employees. This is always an exciting
time on campus, as the transition from the university to work is on the
minds of our students. We also provide facilities that allow students
to research participating employers in advance, as well as view on-line
employer profiles, which provide information like available positions
and majors recruited by the company.
Employer information sessions offer students a convenient way to
learn about prospective employers and start building relationships with
key recruiting contacts. On-campus interviews are commonplace. A
``professional network'' allows students to find a professional mentor
who can provide career advice and insight from our database of alumni
mentors and volunteer career advisers.
Workshops are offered throughout the year on topics like mock
interviews and appropriate business attire to help students develop and
refine career-related skills.
FACILITATING THE TRANSITION THROUGH INTERNSHIPS
A strength of Gallaudet in providing employment opportunities for
our students is our placement of students into internships. The Career
Center reports that 80 percent of graduating seniors completed at least
one internship prior to graduation, much higher than the national
average of 52 percent. Gallaudet uses internships to provide our
students with on-the-job, hands-on experience. This gives them the
skills they will need that will greatly aid them in their careers.
Allow me to illustrate with details of some Gallaudet student
internship experiences.
Krista Brown, from Illinois, did an internship at the
Sidwell Friends Academy in Washington, DC, where she assisted in
teaching a class of 24 first graders. Originally, the students did not
know how to work with an interpreter, but eventually they learned how
to communicate with Krista, and that was an enriching experience for
them. In the future, Krista would like to open a charter school in
Chicago, IL.
Leila Hanaumi, from California and our student witness
today, did an internship as a reporter with the Deaflymplics in Taipei,
Taiwan in 2009. She is also currently interning with a professor at
Gallaudet, working on starting a new company.
Dylan Hinks, also from California, landed a prestigious
internship with the American Association of People with Disabilities
this past summer. He was the AAPD fellow in the office of Congressman
Ed Markey.
Briana Johnson of Georgia, did an internship through
Gallaudet's Capitol Hill Internship program, in the office of Senator
Sherrod Brown. Briana assisted with constituent correspondence, and her
experience inspired her to want to attend law school in the future.
Robert Siebert, from Minnesota, did an internship with the
Gallaudet Administration and Finance Internship program in the summer
of 2010. He worked with the associate director of Real Estate
Development in the Program Development office. This past summer, he was
an intern with Volkswagen in Herndon, VA.
Rami Traurig of Maryland did an internship with the James
Madison University's Department of Chemistry's Research Experience for
Undergraduates program. The REU program is sponsored by the National
Science Foundation. As an intern, Rami, a biology major, assisted with
collecting and analyzing water samples from areas in the Shenandoah
Valley and the George Washington National Forest.
These students are well on their way to becoming successful in
their careers, just as Mike Ellis and Seth Bravin--both witnesses
today--and so many other Gallaudet alumni.
We recently initiated a Capitol Hill Internship Program that places
Gallaudet students in Federal offices, particularly with Members of
Congress. These programs allow deaf and hard-of-hearing students to
gain valuable job and life experience as well as gaining a crucial
understanding of how our government functions.
Placing our students in internships not only provides them with
crucial job training, it educates employers about the capabilities of
deaf and hard-of-hearing people. One of the barriers to employment for
deaf people is that employers and the public in general often have low
expectations and negative stereotypes about the abilities of deaf
people. We place our students in internships to show that they are
capable and competent and can thrive once given the opportunity. Our
students, through internships, break down the misconceptions held about
deaf people.
In addition to internships, Gallaudet University provides a variety
of study-abroad options for students, which allows them to develop an
appreciation of the shrinking global environment in which we now work
and live.
FACILITATING THE TRANSITION THROUGH OTHER VENUES
Gallaudet understands that providing academic support and
internship opportunities are crucial to successful future employment.
But there are many other skills that must be developed outside these
venues that will allow our students to compete successfully in the
workplace. These skills involve working in teams, making real-life
decisions that impact themselves and others who work with them,
interacting with and learning from people different from themselves in
non-controlled environments, and obtaining leadership experience.
These characteristics are the hallmark of the Gallaudet experience
unmatched anywhere in the world.
Through student organizations, our students can thrive in
an environment where each one can experience unfettered communications
with one another and one where they can become leaders, organizers, and
follow their dreams and initiatives to make the world a better place.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing students at Gallaudet can become club
presidents, editor of the newspaper, and president of the student
government association. If these same students attended another
university, their opportunities for such experiences would be limited
dramatically. These experiences in leadership roles will help our
graduates become leaders in their employment and in the communities in
which they live.
As mentioned earlier, study abroad programs give students
the opportunity to broaden their horizons and better understand the
world. Our First Year Study Tour provides this knowledge early in their
university experience.
Our athletic programs allow students to grow as well, as
they work hard, both on and off the field, to achieve great things. The
opportunities for leading as team captains would be non-existent or
very limited at other universities.
These student life activities provide students with valuable life
skills that will aid them in succeeding in the workplace. Higher
education is not only valuable for classroom time, but what is learned
outside of that space is incredibly important. Surely as former college
students ourselves, we can never forget the late night discussions in
dorm rooms, student body government meetings, and spontaneous debates
in hallways. These are possible only in an environment where students
are given the opportunity to gather and directly communicate with each
other and learn the joys, and yes, the frustrations of becoming
responsible adults and civic partners of our Nation.
As you can see, Gallaudet University prepares students for the
employment world in a myriad of ways. From classroom learning that
provides them knowledge and information, to social and leadership
opportunities that supplies them with life skills, and internships that
give them hands-on experience, Gallaudet makes it possible for deaf
students to enter the workforce and have successful careers. Those
opportunities will only increase as Gallaudet continues to innovate and
grow as, for example, the establishment of our four new ``pre-''
programs demonstrate.
Are there any communications technologies used by NTID and Gallaudet
University that have broader societal use and application?
Gallaudet has long been a leader in using up to date technology to
enhance the experience of our students. Tools like CART, VRS and other
technologies provide access to those attending Gallaudet, and are
efforts that other universities could learn from, in order to better
provide access to their students and employees. As we serve a variety
of students, from those who primarily use visual language, to those who
mix both visual and auditory communication, Gallaudet has expertise in
the best technological practices for this population. We can educate
employers on the technologies available in order to assist them in
hiring deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
For example, we have the Technology Access Program (TAP) that
researches communication technology for the benefit of industries, the
government and deaf consumers and seeks to provide equity in
communications for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Additionally, there
is often informal experimentation taking place among Gallaudet
students, faculty and staff, with smartphone applications and other
technologies that will provide more access and better employment
opportunities for our graduates.
With the advent of new technologies, many barriers that previously
existed for deaf students are evaporating. Textual communication is
becoming a large part of the world, as texting, email, instant
messaging and social media have become frequent means of communication.
Furthermore, the ADA helped video relay services to flourish, breaking
down more barriers to employment of deaf people. Our graduates are
entering a world where employers are learning that familiar
technology--well beyond the constraints of email--exist and can remove
barriers to working with deaf and hard-of-hearing employees. This
technology allows employers to concentrate on hiring and work practices
that can, if used properly, significantly reduce barriers to employment
and advancement. However, it is the existence of stereotypes which are
much more difficult to erase.
These technologies do much more than simply allow people to
communicate with one another; social media in particular, provides
tools for people to be considered as equals on the Internet. The
stereotypes that exist when people encounter each other face-to-face
disappear when they interact with one another in this medium. Take for
example a deaf intern who is not readily able to participate in
impromptu hallway conversations with co-workers and thereby misses out
on the social lubricant that helps the gears of work run smoothly.
Through textual communications and social media however, the deaf
intern is able to forge a bond with fellow co-workers through common-
shared interests whether it be sports, clothes, the arts, and even
music. It is through this social lubricant conducted through the
electronic medium that will further facilitate the face-to-face
interaction between this deaf intern and fellow co-workers in ways that
were simply not possible before.
What practices can be replicated across higher education for better
inclusion of individuals with disabilities to better prepare
them for the workforce?
Gallaudet serves as a living example of how an institution of
higher education can specifically address the needs of students whose
abilities are different from that of a large segment of our population.
Our programs are specially designed to serve this population, as is
wisely mandated by the Education of the Deaf Act. At Gallaudet,
inclusion happens in the fullest sense in that our students face no
barriers in participating in all aspects of university life. It is
through this collegiate experience that our students gain the knowledge
and confidence necessary to succeed once they earn their degree and
depart the world of academia.
At the same time, we are very well aware that this kind of
experience is a ``once in a lifetime'' opportunity. Hence, we provide
all the tools to prepare them for inclusion in the larger world of
work. This is done through internships, offering of consortium courses,
participating in classroom activities that engage outside participants
and the neighboring community, having them compete against their non-
deaf peers in events such as mock trials to see how they measure up,
and so on.
Gallaudet University serves as an example of a public-private
partnership that truly works. It is through the investment of Federal
dollars and the prudence management of these resources that we are able
to provide a program that meets the national mission. It is in this
spirit that the Federal Government should consider how this type of
arrangement can be expanded to serve others with disabilities in higher
education settings. Just like the fact that not everyone who is deaf
chooses to go to Gallaudet, not everyone who has a specific disability
would choose to go to a certain college. But imagine if you will, for
example, that blind college students could choose to attend an
institution that had the Federal support to develop an environment that
minimizes or removes barriers for blind people. These blind students
would not have to spend a great deal of their time worrying about
accommodations that are rightfully theirs. Rather, they would be better
able to focus on their educational experience, knowing that access is
readily achievable anywhere, anytime.
It is also important to recognize that Gallaudet is pleased to
offer a strong research base at our university. Another of the goals of
our strategic plan is to become: ``the epicenter of research,
development and outreach leading to advancements in knowledge and
practice for deaf and hard-of-hearing people and all humanity.''
We want to lead in research which will lead to better understanding
of deaf and hard-of-hearing people, ultimately resulting in better
employment. One example is the Visual Language, Visual Learning (VL2)
program at Gallaudet. Funded by a competitive grant from the National
Science Foundation, this program, one of six Science of Learning
centers, conducts cognitive scientific research into how deaf people
develop language and literacy, in order to better understand how
everyone, deaf and hearing, learn visually. Understanding how a
minority processes the world can benefit society, as evidenced by VL2.
This concept could be replicated for higher education for other
populations; analysis of their capabilities could provide information
about the human experience.
FINAL COMMENT
In many ways, today's Gallaudet students possess greater awareness
and confidence in succeeding in the world of work as compared to past
generations of students. When I stand on the stage in May 2012
performing what is indeed the greatest joy of any university president,
the conferring of degrees, I will be handing degrees to many
undergraduate students who were born after the passage of the greatest
civil rights legislation for people with disabilities in the history of
our Nation. These students have grown up in a world where the paradigm
of having a disability is not an abnormality to be ashamed of, but a
difference to be embraced and valued. They are what I call the ADA
generation. This ADA generation is not reserved exclusively to those
who are considered disabled by others, it is a generation of all young
Americans who share the same hopes and desires to achieve the American
dream. This is why I am confident that although barriers continue to
exist, the future has never been brighter for those who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing. I have been fortunate to be in a profession where I
talk to young adults on a daily basis and get a glimpse into the future
of our country and I know that the ADA generation will help forge a
more equitable workplace for disabled people as they advance into
positions of leadership.
The Gallaudet Middle States Accreditation report in 2000 states
that many institutions say that they have mission, but Gallaudet truly
has a mission. We accept deaf and hard-of-hearing students with a broad
range of academic experiences and abilities. Unlike other institutions
that accept students within a narrow bandwidth of academic skills as
indicated by their standardized test scores, our top students scores
are as much as twice as high as those in the low end of the range.
Those who are not as fortunate as others and have scores that reflect
it, have experienced low expectations from others, received substandard
education, and encountered barriers on a daily basis that impede their
learning opportunities. Because of Gallaudet's unique mission, we have
the programs, the people, and the tools to help these students succeed
and find employment. At the end of their Gallaudet experience, each
student that stands on the stage with me and receives their degree is
equal to another, regardless of where they started at Gallaudet. Each
one will enter the world with a hard-earned college degree that is
their license and pathway to gainful employment. This is Gallaudet's
mission and one we accomplish well.
As was written by President Lincoln 150 years ago, the government
exists to ``. . . to lift artificial weights from all shoulders, to
clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all, to afford all an
unfettered start and a fair chance, in the race of life.''
This is just as true today as it was when Lincoln penned these
words in 1861. Gallaudet is proud to be a partner with the U.S.
Government in providing the foundation for success that each student
require in order to have meaningful careers and fulfilling and
enriching lives.
The Chairman. Thank you. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Thank you, Dr. Hurwitz.
And now we will turn to Dr. Buckley. As I said, your
statement will be made a part of the record in its entirety,
and you can just sum up.
Thank you.
STATEMENT OF GERARD J. BUCKLEY, Ph.D., PRESIDENT, NATIONAL
TECHNICAL INSTITUTE FOR THE DEAF, VICE PRESIDENT AND DEAN,
ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, ROCHESTER, NY
Mr. Buckley. Mr. Chairman, Senator Enzi, thank you very
much for the opportunity to share and discuss the importance of
employment outcomes for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
We are honored to be a part of this historic occasion, and
we salute Gallaudet University for hosting this event. And we
look forward to a long partnership with Gallaudet and working
with you to [inaudible].
I would like to describe our program at NTID. We are a
little bit different than Gallaudet University. We are
established on the mainstream campus with 1,354 students.
Fourteen percent of our students are from the West, and 45
percent are from the Midwest. Twenty-two percent are from the
South. Thirty-nine percent are from the Northeast.
We have students from 49 States. I am working on Montana
still. We are missing one. I apologize. Seventy-two percent of
our students are first-time college students. But 20 to 25
percent are transfers from other colleges where their needs
have not been met, and then they join our community.
Most of our students are from mainstream programs. Twenty-
three percent of our students are cochlear implant users.
Twenty-nine percent of our students are from minority
backgrounds, and 11 percent of our students have secondary
disabilities.
The RIT campus has become a model of communication
accessibility for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in this
Nation, with 120 full-time interpreters and 55 captioners. The
number of hearing students enrolled in ASL classes at our
campus has gone up 4 times in the last 5 years. We now have
2,200 hearing students on our campus studying sign language.
For the second time in recent history, the RIT hearing
student body, along with the deaf student body, has elected a
deaf student to be the president of the student government.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing students on our campus are part of the
rich diversity of our campus that prepares the American
workforce for the future.
A fundamental reason that NTID has been successful is that
we have remained focused on our primary mission, which is to
prepare young people for employment in the world of work.
Everything we do at NTID is driven by the need to prepare
students for successfully competing in a global economy. We
work closely with employers all over the Nation to achieve this
goal.
RIT is one of the Nation's leading career-oriented
universities that is seeking to prepare the next generation of
America's workforce in the technical areas and the professional
areas, and NTID's role is to make sure that deaf and hard-of-
hearing people fully participate in that preparation.
One way that RIT prepares students for the world of work is
through our cooperative education experience, which is required
for students to go out and work as part of their education
program. All students are required to go out for 10 weeks and
work in the workplace. They recognize their areas in need of
improvement and come back to the campus and work on those
before they graduate.
Every year, we have 200 to 250 deaf students go throughout
the Nation working in co-ops throughout the country, and we are
very proud of them. We also have faculty that follow up with
them and visit them on the work site in order to get feedback
for how we can improve our academic programs on the campus.
Today, there are many Gallaudet students here. But today, I
am proud to introduce two students from NTID who join me.
Maya Ariel is a business administration management major
from New Jersey who is also a very talented actress. Marvelous.
She recently completed her first co-op at the U.S. Department
of Agriculture this summer in the marketing area, and she
recently has accepted a co-op in Indiana this summer with Dow
Chemical Corporation.
The second student here is Hannah Worek. Hannah is a
criminal justice major from Rochester who aspires--who will go
to law school when she graduates. She is a student athlete. She
also is the 13th member of her family to attend RIT/NTID. We
are very proud of her. This summer, she worked for a property
management company in New York City and reported directly to
the CEO.
If these two students look familiar, it is because these
students appeared on the ABC program called ``What Would You
Do?'' this past December. It was shown again during the summer.
It was an 8-minute segment in the show where the students were
hired as actors to go in and apply for a job at a coffee shop.
The manager of the coffee shop said, ``I am sorry. We don't
hire deaf people here.''
The intent was to see if the customers in the coffee shop
would object. Sadly, very few people objected, despite the
blatant discrimination. What was even more of concern was that
several HR professionals who were in the coffee shop as
customers actually were witnessed giving advice to the boss of
that coffee shop on how to discriminate legally.
NTID is using the ABC experience to educate employers, HR
professionals, and our students about the reality of workplace
discrimination, prepare them for the future. Tonight, we are
returning back to Rochester, where tomorrow we will be hosting
our 11th annual employer job fair, with more than 40 companies
from throughout the United States that are coming to campus to
interview our students, including Apple Computer, Cisco,
Sprint, and IBM.
The committee has asked us what practices should be
replicated related to workforce inclusion. Our experience at
NTID suggests six critical areas--outreach to employers to make
sure they are prepared to work with and provide accommodations
to deaf and disabled individuals. Regular interaction with
employers to make sure that they know what skills the students
have and also that the academic programs that are serving
disabled individuals are matching the demands of the workplace
world.
We must encourage a spirit of innovation in our young
disabled community citizens so they are prepared to compete for
the world of work.
We must continue to do more outreach to middle schools and
high school students to prepare them to compete in the science,
technology, engineering, and math. The research shows very
clearly that if our students earn a degree in that area, the
gap between them and their nondisabled peers is lessened.
We must encourage more collaboration, as Gallaudet
University and NTID have committed to working together, to
improve the employment picture for deaf people in the future.
We must continue to support and demonstrate the return, the
ROI, the return on the investment in support from the
Government. We know through our research studies, it is very
clear that graduates are less dependent on the Federal
programs, such as SSI, SSDI. We also know that our graduates
return many times the investment the Federal Government has
made in them through the form of taxes they pay throughout
their careers.
Thank you for the opportunity to share what we have learned
at NTID about how to employ--how to improve employment
outcomes. We are deeply appreciative at NTID of the support we
receive from Congress. We are committed to maintaining our
focus on enhancing the employment picture for deaf people in
the future.
Thank you very much.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Buckley follows:]
Prepared Statement of Gerard J. Buckley, Ph.D.
SUMMARY
In the 1960s, it became apparent that an institution with a
technical and professional emphasis was needed for people who were deaf
and hard-of-hearing. In 1965, Public Law 89-36 established a National
Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). The Rochester Institute of
Technology (RIT) was chosen as the host institution for NTID, and the
first 70 students were admitted in 1968. This fall, NTID's enrollment
is higher than it has ever been, with 1,547 students--1,354 of which
are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Flexibility informs every aspect of NTID's preparation of students
for the workforce--flexibility in terms of academic programs,
communication preferences, support services, and professional
experiences. Students can complete a technical associate degree at
NTID, enter an associate + bachelor's degree program, or complete
baccalaureate or graduate degrees at RIT with the support of NTID
access services. Those access services include faculty tutors,
advisors, note takers, captionists, on-site audiologists, and speech-
language pathologists, as well as the largest staff of full-time
interpreters of any college in the world.
RIT/NTID's focus on career education and preparation for career
success through experiential learning and cooperative work experiences
provides key advantages for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in
securing employment after graduation. Cooperative work experiences, or
co-ops, are an integral part of academic programming at NTID.
Employment specialists at the NTID Center on Employment assist students
in securing 10-week work experiences that augment their studies. NTID's
annual Job Fair is in its 11th year and has grown from featuring 17
employers to over 40 employers, specifically recruiting deaf and hard-
of-hearing graduates. The NTID Center on Employment identifies new
employers with which to build relationships by networking and
exhibiting at human resources conferences, using the community and
professional contacts of parents of new NTID students, helping alumni
encourage their employers to recruit from NTID, and inviting companies
to visit campus, meet our students, and learn about the technical
programs we offer and skills we are developing. The NTID Center on
Employment also initiates and delivers consultation, training, followup
and other support services to employers. Through these services,
employers become aware of the needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing people
and facilitate graduates entering the workforce.
Students are also encouraged to engage in innovation and research.
Following RIT's leadership in this area, NTID is increasing its
emphasis on innovation and creativity, both in the curriculum and in
other activities across campus. Last year, NTID awarded to faculty and
staff innovation grants related to student services or scholarship/
research projects, requiring them to include students as active team
members. NTID faculty, staff, and students participate annually in
Imagine RIT, an innovation and creativity festival that is attended by
over 30,000 people.
Changes at RIT also help NTID remain dynamic as the premier
technical institute for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. RIT's expertise
is focused in the science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM)
fields, and it has recently added a College of Health Sciences and
Technology as well as the Golisano Institute for Sustainability. To
support these technical fields of study, RIT's campus strives to offer
state-of-the-art equipment and facilities.
NTID's model has been successful. Over the last 5 years, our job
placement rate for graduates is 90 percent. Research conducted using
Social Security Administration and Internal Revenue Service data
indicates deaf and hard-of-hearing graduates from RIT/NTID have higher
employment rates and higher earnings than deaf and hard-of-hearing
students not graduating from RIT/NTID. By age 50, deaf and hard-of-
hearing bachelor degree graduates from RIT/NTID earn on average $6,021
more than those with associate degrees; who in turn earn $3,996 more on
average than those who withdraw; who earn $4,329 more than those who
are not admitted.
Communication technologies that facilitate communication for and
with people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing are just as much for the
general hearing public as they are for deaf students and graduates in
that they foster communication between both groups. C-Print is a
speech-to-text captioning system developed at NTID, as a communication
access service option for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in
educational environments. This technology has not only provided access
to students who are deaf but also serves to reinforce materials
presented in classrooms for those who hear. Presently, the NTID Center
on Access Technology is working with various companies to develop
devices that will use off-the-shelf technology to create innovative
applications for people who are deaf that might have broader
applications as well.
Despite all the employer outreach NTID initiates, there continues
to be prejudice and ignorance about hiring and working with deaf and
hard-of-hearing individuals. NTID will continue to conduct outreach to
employers to help them understand hearing loss, accommodate deaf and
hard-of-hearing employees, and ease communication. Other challenges
continue to be ensuring that NTID students, like hearing students, keep
pace with the changing job market and technical skills needed in the
workplace. RIT and NTID work to address those challenges by creating
new academic programs in ``hot job'' categories, using employer
feedback to tweak existing academic programs, and making sure equipment
and facilities continue to be state-of-the-art. Appropriate academic
preparation for college is another challenge for some deaf and hard-of-
hearing students. NTID tries to improve that preparation through its
outreach programs that connect with middle and high school students and
alert them to what they need to do to prepare for college and career
success.
The extensive employer outreach and education that the NTID Center
on Employment does on behalf of students who are deaf or hard-of-
hearing could be replicated by other institutions on behalf of students
with disabilities in general. Requiring a co-op experience is a
practice that other higher education institutions could also adopt to
better prepare students, with or without disabilities, for the
workforce. Finally, the outreach NTID conducts at the pre-college level
could be used at other postsecondary institutions to help prepare and
generate interest in young people with disabilities for college and the
workforce.
______
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I am pleased to present
the following invited testimony regarding the topic of ``Leveraging
Higher Education to Improve Employment Outcomes for People who are Deaf
or Hard of Hearing.''
BACKGROUND
In the 1960s, it became apparent that an institution with a
technical and professional emphasis was needed for people who were deaf
and hard-of-hearing. In 1965, Representative Hugh Carey and Senator
Lister Hill introduced the companion bills that would become Public Law
89-36, signed by President Lyndon B. Johnson, establishing a National
Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). Over 20 postsecondary
institutions expressed an interest in being the sponsoring institution
for NTID, with eight submitting formal proposals. In 1966, the
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), founded in 1829, was selected
for being the only institution meeting all of the mandated
requirements. RIT had a national reputation for its technical programs,
a history of incorporating cooperative work experiences with education
(since 1912), existing partnerships with business and industrial
leaders, and connections to deafness through its own past admittance of
deaf students, several of whom had graduated from the nearby Rochester
School for the Deaf.
RIT/NTID first admitted students, 70 of them, in 1968 and graduated
its first class of 54 students in 1971. I began my academic career at
NTID in 1974 and went on to graduate with a B.S. in Social Work from
RIT in 1978. I then went on to complete a Master's in Social Work at
the University of Missouri and a Doctorate in Special Education at the
University of Kansas. I spent 10 years heading Gallaudet University's
Regional Center at Johnson County Community College in Kansas before
returning to my alma mater as a faculty member and administrator. In
January of this year, it was my honor to become NTID's first alumnus
president. I have also served in the past as president of the American
Deafness and Rehabilitation Association and a member of the National
Advisory Board of NIH's Institute on Deafness.
OUR STUDENTS
Much has changed since that first group of 70 students came to
NTID. This fall, NTID's enrollment is higher than it has ever been,
with 1,547 students--1,354 of which are deaf or hard-of-hearing. This
fall's enrollment includes students from 49 States and 19 foreign
countries.
More of our students are coming from mainstream high schools, and
we have seen a dramatic increase in the number of students enrolling
with cochlear implants--from 75 students (6 percent) in fiscal year
2002 to 305 students in fiscal year 2011 (23 percent). Similarly, our
students are increasingly ethnically diverse, with 29 percent of them
from minority backgrounds (up from 25 percent in fiscal year 2007).
Over the last decade, we have also seen an increase in the number of
students with secondary disabilities. They represented 11 percent of
the student population in fiscal year 2011 compared to 5 percent in
fiscal year 2000.
RIT and its hearing student population have also changed as a
result of having NTID students on campus for the last 43 years. RIT's
total enrollment this fall is 17,652 students. Those students are
represented by RIT Student Government, whose current president is Greg
Pollock, a former NTID Student Congress President and deaf student
pursuing his bachelor's degree in professional and technical
communication. This year and last year, Greg was the only student to
give a speech at the RIT Convocation for New Students and Families,
which he did in American Sign Language or ASL (with voicing and
captioning provided by NTID Access Services staff). Many RIT students
become interested in ASL as a result of NTID. The number of students
taking ASL has more than tripled at RIT over the past 4 years--this
year, 2,193 students enrolled in ASL classes in just the fall, winter
and spring quarters. RIT students organize the No Voice Zone, where
they meet regularly (often in late evening) to teach, laugh and learn
about deaf culture. Another example of the integration of NTID within
RIT is the opening of the RIT American Sign Language and Deaf Culture
Community Center last year, right in the center of campus at RIT's
Student Alumni Union.
FULFILLING OUR MISSION
Flexibility informs every aspect of NTID's preparation of students
for the workforce--flexibility in terms of academic programs,
communication preferences, support services, and professional
experiences. Students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing can be admitted
directly into baccalaureate degree programs at RIT, while receiving all
the support and access services NTID offers. They can enter pre-
baccalaureate programs individually tailored to prepare them for entry
into baccalaureate degree programs or enroll in the associate +
bachelor's degree program. Students can also pursue associate degrees
in various technical programs. RIT also offers a variety of Master's
and Ph.D. programs, should NTID students wish to continue as graduate
students.
Regardless of degree program, deaf and hard-of-hearing students
enrolled at NTID or supported by NTID as they pursue a degree at RIT
are able to take advantage of myriad access services designed
specifically for them. There are faculty tutors, advisors, note takers,
and captionists, as well as the largest staff of full-time interpreters
of any college in the world. On-site audiologists provide services
related to hearing and hearing aids, cochlear implants and FM systems.
Speech-language pathologists offer a broad range of speech and language
services. NTID also works with each of RIT's colleges to provide the
support needed to implement strategies for maximizing access to campus
services for deaf students.
Cooperative work experiences, or co-ops, are an integral part of
academic programming at NTID. Employment specialists at the NTID Center
on Employment assist students in securing 10-week work experiences that
augment their studies. Employment specialists or faculty members visit
many students and their supervisors at their co-ops to assess progress
and resolve any workplace issues. Most academic programs require one to
three cooperative assignments. For example, RIT's Student Government
President Greg Pollock worked in the Public Affairs Department of Dow
Chemical's Business Services Group in Michigan. Finance student Erick
Hoens worked as a branch intern for J.P. Morgan Securities in New York
City. Mechanical Engineering student Kelly McNabb worked on polymer
blends for fuel cell technology at Tufts University in Massachusetts.
Medical Illustration student Mitsuyoshi Yabe worked as a medical
illustration intern at the University of California at San Diego.
Applied Computer Technology student George White worked as an
engineering aide at the Aviation and Missile Research Development and
Engineering Center in Alabama. Biomedical Sciences and Diagnostic
Medical Sonography student Abbi Simons worked as a marine botany
anatomist at the Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural
History here in D.C. These are just some examples of the hands-on job
experiences that NTID students have at major companies and institutions
nationwide. Requiring a co-op experience is a practice that other
higher education institutions could adopt to better prepare students,
with or without disabilities, for the workforce.
Following RIT's leadership in this area, NTID is increasing its
emphasis on innovation and creativity, both in the curriculum and in
other activities across campus. We encourage our faculty to actively
involve students at all levels in scholarship and innovation
activities. Last year, NTID awarded to faculty and staff innovation
grants related to student services or scholarship/research projects,
requiring them to include students as active team members. NTID
faculty, staff, and students participate annually in Imagine RIT, an
innovation and creativity festival that is attended by over 30,000
people. At Imagine RIT, NTID Laboratory Science Technology students
present their research; the NTID Electric Bike Club shows off their no-
carbon-emission bicycles; and students present applications they have
developed for deaf and hard-of-hearing users of smartphones and PDAs.
Also, this Friday, October 14, NTID will celebrate a groundbreaking
ceremony for Rosica Hall, a first-of-its-kind facility specifically
designed to foster innovation, research and entrepreneurship among our
deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
Changes at RIT also help NTID remain dynamic as the premier
technical institute for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. RIT is one of the
largest producers in the country of baccalaureate degrees in the STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and math) fields. It has recently
added a College of Health Sciences and Technology as well as the
Golisano Institute for Sustainability, featuring the world's first
doctorate in sustainable production. To support technical fields of
study, RIT's campus offers wireless computer access, smart classrooms
with state-of-the-art computers and multimedia-based technologies,
computer graphics and computer-aided drafting labs, microelectronics
and computer engineering facilities, digital printing presses, laser
optics labs, a robotics program and fully networked residence halls.
NTID also aims to provide deaf and hard-of-hearing middle school
and high school students with educational experiences designed to
encourage them to seek postsecondary education. NTID conducts a SpiRIT
Writing Contest; a National Science Fair for deaf and hard-of-hearing
students in grades 6 through 11; Explore Your Future summer camp for
upperclass high school students; TechGirlz and TechBoyz summer camps
for junior high students; Steps to Success weekend camp for African-
American, Latino-American and Native-American students; a math
competition for middle school students; and a Digital Arts, Film and
Animation Competition for high school students. NTID also assists
employers and secondary and postsecondary educational institutions that
work with students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing through the efforts
of our Postsecondary Education Programs Network--Northeast Region
center. NTID's Project Access initiative is designed to help educators
incorporate basic strategies to foster better learning for mainstreamed
deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Many other outreach activities are
aimed at deaf and hard-of-hearing adults who are post-college and now
employed. These kinds of outreach activities could be used at other
postsecondary institutions to help prepare and generate interest in
young people with disabilities for college and the workforce.
OUTCOMES
In the late 1970s, it became increasingly clear to NTID that self-
reported questionnaires completed by graduates were inadequate for
assessing the impact of an NTID education on employment outcomes. As a
result, institutional partnerships have been forged over time with the
Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, and
disability employment and public policy experts at the School of
Ecology at Cornell University. NTID has not only developed memoranda of
agreement with these Federal agencies, but also data sharing agreements
that ensure complete confidentiality of exchanged information. The
resulting program of research generated and supported by these
partnerships and agreements is described as ``unique throughout higher
education and rehabilitation services'' by Dr. Richard Burkhauser, who
is an internationally recognized public policy expert at Cornell
University.
By providing the social security numbers (serving as individually
unique identifiers) of its graduates to appropriate Federal agencies,
NTID has obtained aggregate statistics on yearly earnings, employment
participation, and participation in Federal assistance programs such as
Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Social Security Disability
Insurance (SSDI). Analyses of these aggregate data have revealed the
return on investment for students who attend RIT/NTID. For example,
deaf and hard-of-hearing bachelor degree graduates return to the
Federal treasury an average of $6,632 per year in Federal taxes during
their first 25 years of employment. This figure exceeds, by $2,063, the
annuitized amount of $4,569 required to pay back the Federal investment
for their education (Clarcq, J.R. & Walter, G.G., 1998; Schley et al.,
2011). Using longitudinal data collected through this same program of
research, NTID also has documented the effects of successive degree
levels from RIT for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. For example,
2006 research showed that each successive degree level translates to an
average $10,000 increase in taxable yearly earnings.
Additionally, research conducted in 2006 compared a group of NTID
deaf and hard-of-hearing graduates with three other groups: those
students who were denied admission, those who were accepted but chose
not to attend, and those who enrolled but did not persist to
graduation. In each of these cases, it was clear that graduating as an
NTID-supported student at RIT meant on average a significant increase
in earnings. Further observations include the decreased dependency on
Federal assistance programs such as SSI and SSDI for those individuals
who graduate from RIT/NTID, as compared to those who do not (NTID
Annual Report 2010, http://www.ntid.rit.edu/sites/default/files/
annual_report_2010.pdf). This resulted in a lower expenditure of
Federal funds on deaf and hard-of-hearing students who attend and
graduate from RIT/NTID.
In short, deaf and hard-of-hearing graduates from RIT/NTID have
higher employment rates and higher earnings than deaf and hard-of-
hearing students not graduating from RIT/NTID. By age 50, deaf and
hard-of-hearing bachelor degree graduates from RIT/NTID earn on average
$6,021 more than those with associate degrees; who in turn earn $3,996
more on average than those who withdraw; who earn $4,329 more than
those who are not admitted.
Over the last 5 years, our job placement rate for graduates is 90
percent. Michael Anthony, a 2010 graduate with a B.S. in Computer
Science and Game Design and Development, is now working for Microsoft
as a Software Development Engineer for Xbox. Monica Donovan, a 2006
graduate with a B.S. in Visual Media, started her own photography
business. Lawrence Dorsey, a 2008 graduate with an associate degree in
Computer Integrated Machining Technology, is a machinist for Rock
Island Arsenal. Alex Johnson, a 2011 graduate with a B.S. in Mechanical
Engineering, is part of a New Engine Development Team with GE Aviation.
Melissa Skyer, who went on to get an M.S. in Environmental Science in
2006, is an environmental specialist with Southern California Gas,
Natural Resources & Land Planning Group of Environmental Services.
Right here in DC, we have Christopher Samp, a 2010 graduate with his
M.S. in Public Policy, who is now working as a congressional staffer
for Senator Dick Durbin.
BUILDING AND MAINTAINING RELATIONSHIPS WITH EMPLOYERS
RIT/NTID's focus on career education and preparation for career
success through experiential learning and cooperative work experiences
provides key advantages for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in
securing employment after graduation. NTID's annual Job Fair is in its
11th year and has grown from featuring 17 employers to over 40
employers, specifically recruiting deaf and hard-of-hearing graduates.
The NTID Center on Employment identifies new employers with which to
build relationships by networking and exhibiting at human resources
conferences, using the community and professional contacts of parents
of new NTID students, helping alumni encourage their employers to
recruit from NTID, and inviting companies to visit campus, meet our
students, and learn about the technical programs we offer and skills we
are developing.
The NTID Center on Employment also initiates and delivers
consultation, training, followup and other support services to
employers. Through these services, employers become aware of the needs
of deaf and hard-of-hearing people and facilitate graduates entering
the workforce. For instance, in fiscal year 2010, the NTID Center on
Employment presented programs to 521 human resources professionals,
including the workshop ``Working Together: Deaf and Hearing People.''
This workshop has been given on-site to companies like Honda, Procter
and Gamble, the Walt Disney Company, The Dow Chemical Company, and the
CIA to help employers understand hearing loss, accommodate deaf and
hard-of-hearing employees, and ease communication. NTID also produces
several brochures and other materials to educate employers and
facilitate communication, such as the Let's Communicate brochure with
basic signs and tips for communicating with ASL users and the DVD I Can
Work for You!, featuring students and graduates talking about their
successful co-op and employment experiences. The extensive employer
outreach and education that the NTID Center on Employment does on
behalf of students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing could be replicated
by other institutions on behalf of students with disabilities in
general.
NTID's relationship with employers directly affects the educational
programs we provide. NTID's co-op visitation program enables faculty
and staff to visit students while on their co-op education assignments.
During that visit, faculty are able to observe firsthand the job
environment and the NTID student's responsibilities in that
environment, which allows them to evaluate what skills that student
needed to acquire at NTID in order to be successful. Similarly, every
employer participating in NTID's co-op program has an opportunity to
provide feedback on what technical or communication skills its co-op
student needs to improve before graduation. NTID's academic programs
also have employer advisory groups in which employers in the field can
review the curriculum for that program and offer suggestions.
Recently, the National Science Foundation provided funding for RIT/
NTID to establish DeafTEC: Technological Education Center for Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing Students, an Advanced Technological Education National
Center of Excellence. There are approximately 40 advanced technological
education centers across the country, and DeafTEC will be the first
ever established to serve individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
In addition to serving as a national resource for high schools and
community colleges that educate deaf and hard-of-hearing students in
STEM-related programs, DeafTEC will assist employers hiring deaf and
hard-of-hearing individuals. Through its comprehensive Web site,
DeafTEC will serve as a clearinghouse for information related to
technical education and technician careers for deaf and hard-of-hearing
students, including career awareness materials, teaching strategies for
improving student access to learning, developmental math and English
curricula, and information for employers to help them provide a more
accessible workplace.
COMMUNICATIONS TECHNOLOGIES
Communication technologies that facilitate communication for and
with people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing are just as much for the
general hearing public, or broader society, as they are for deaf
students and graduates in that they foster communication between both
groups. Because of the low incidence of deafness, most technologies
utilized by people who are deaf have come from the adoption or
adaptation of technologies for people who hear, with the exception of
various assistive listening devices.
In the early 1980s, NTID researcher Dr. Ross Stuckless adapted the
``stenotype system'' utilized by court recorders to provide real-time
captioning for classroom use. The success of this application in RIT
classrooms led to the development and deployment of C-Print. C-Print is
a speech-to-text system developed at NTID, as a communication access
service option for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in educational
environments. It was developed by researchers to improve the classroom
experience for students at both the secondary and college levels. This
technology has not only provided access to students who are deaf but
also serves to reinforce materials presented in classrooms for those
who hear.
Presently, the NTID Center on Access Technology is working with
various companies to develop devices that will use off-the-shelf
technology to create innovative applications for people who are deaf.
For example, a proprietary smartphone application and micro-circuit is
being licensed to a corporation for a notification device.
Additionally, a Bluetooth-based device/micro-circuit application is
being developed for athletic events where deaf and hearing people
compete together. Further, a video-based see-through white board system
is being developed for use by deaf people teaching students who are
deaf so that the teacher always faces the students. These are three
applications of off-the-shelf technologies that are being innovatively
applied for use with people who are deaf.
CHALLENGES FOR THE FUTURE
Despite all the outreach NTID, Gallaudet University, and other
entities conduct with employers, there continues to be prejudice and
ignorance about hiring and working with deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals. Earlier this year, ABC's television show What Would You
Do? featured NTID students Hannah Worek and Maya Ariel acting as if
they are trying to get jobs at a coffee shop. An actor portraying the
manager of the coffee shop told the young women that they would not be
hired simply because they are deaf. The show looked at how the general
hearing public who witnessed the discrimination would react. Sadly, in
this instance, only a few individuals spoke out against the management.
What is worse, several customers who identified themselves as HR
professionals advised the managers on how to discriminate in ways that
could not be easily detected or proven. Almost 5 million viewers tuned
in, and NTID is using the show as another launch pad to provide
outreach and education to human resource professionals and employers.
Other challenges continue to be ensuring that NTID students, like
hearing students, keep pace with the changing job market and technical
skills needed in the workplace. RIT and NTID work to address those
challenges by creating new academic programs in ``hot job'' categories,
using employer feedback to tweak existing academic programs, and making
sure equipment and facilities continue to be state-of-the-art.
Appropriate academic preparation for college is another challenge for
some deaf and hard-of-hearing students. NTID tries to improve that
preparation through its outreach programs that connect with middle and
high school students and alert them to what they need to do to prepare
for college and career success.
THE ROAD AHEAD
NTID has a strategic plan for the next 10 years that establishes
key initiatives responding to existing challenges and shaping future
opportunities. We want to improve services to underprepared students by
working with regional partners to create intensive summer academic
preparation programs in select high-growth, ethnically diverse areas of
the country. We are pursuing enrollment targets and admissions and
programming strategies that will result in increasing numbers of our
graduates achieving baccalaureate degrees and higher, while maintaining
our focus and commitment to quality associate-level degree programs
that lead directly to jobs. We will continue our commitment to admit
and support qualified African-American, Latino-American, and Native-
American students; qualified students who use ASL, spoken English, and
both ASL and spoken English; and qualified students with secondary
disabilities and diverse learning characteristics. In response to
employers' emphasis on ``soft skills'' as being key to workplace
success, we will create more opportunities for the integration of soft
skills (such as time management, teamwork, critical thinking, ethical
and civil behavior, independence, etc.) into course objectives.
We are also mentoring deaf and hard-of-hearing NTID employees to
have the honor, as I do, of serving NTID as faculty, administrator and
now president. I am excited to lead NTID as we build on our rich
history, navigate new and existing challenges, and continue to prepare
our students for employment in the workforce and enrichment in their
communities.
The Chairman. Thank you, Dr. Buckley. Thank you.
[Applause.]
Thank you very, very much.
So you have 2,200 hearing students studying sign language?
Mr. Buckley. For credit.
The Chairman. For credit. See, I learned sign language when
I was growing up. I forgot many signs. Maybe I should go to
your school.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Buckley. The biggest complaint I receive from hearing
students on campus is that we don't have enough ASL classes for
them to sign up for. That is a nice problem.
The Chairman. Sure. Sure. Maybe I should come back to
Gallaudet, Dr. Hurwitz.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hurwitz. Absolutely. We have plenty of ASL classes to
offer, always happy to send along our student interns to your
office to offer you some ASL classes and training in your
office. Can make that happen.
The Chairman. I use the interns.
Thank you both very much.
Let me ask a question. What practices at your schools could
be replicated across higher education, across other higher
education schools for better inclusion of students with
disabilities, especially nonhearing students, to better prepare
them for the workforce? Not every deaf student in America can
come to Gallaudet. Not every deaf student can come to NTID,
Rochester Institute of Technology.
What could we do a better job of, when looking at higher
education? What could be done out there to better prepare
nonhearing students like you are doing here? What could be
replicated?
Mr. Hurwitz. I can begin. Here at Gallaudet University, we
have regional centers, actually, a total of six different
regional centers throughout the United States. And those
centers are charged with providing services to the local
communities that surround them. They collaborate with other
community colleges nearby or other 4-year institutions in those
particular regions and through that provide various workshops
that may be related to general awareness of having deaf or
hard-of-hearing students in classrooms.
They also provide a lot of information about how to best
prepare sign language interpreters to provide those kinds of
services in higher education. They provide workshops that cover
a variety of different topics, including technological
solutions, like, for example, the use of real-time captioning.
I have to say we have an outstanding career center, and I
am sure that Dr. Buckley can talk about what they do. I know
tomorrow they are having their 11th career fair at NTID. We, in
fact, are having our career fair today on campus, just across
from the building we are in right now.
We have 40 to 50 different employers represented there,
providing information to our students. So we do share a lot of
the information with other institutions, making sure that young
people are well prepared for future careers.
Mr. Buckley. The only thing I would add is that the
academic preparation of young deaf people has to improve. We
have to make a commitment as a nation to improving the academic
preparation of young people.
The Chairman. Early on.
Mr. Buckley. Ready for school, ready for college. And I am
proud to share that we were recently awarded a grant from the
National Science Foundation, where we will be working with
three States over the next few years--Florida, California, and
Texas. It is designed to establish relationships between high
schools, community colleges, 4-year colleges, and vocational
rehabilitation agencies, really designed to try to make sure
that that pipeline of preparation is there so that picture is
brighter in the future.
Mr. Hurwitz. And if I may add, I agree that it is so very
critical to have early start programs. I can remember talking
with the dean of engineering and the dean of engineering
school, talking about how we could maybe target in specific
young children and their families, encouraging them to think
about future job opportunities.
And you know, maybe those students who have become an
engineer would begin as early as sixth and seventh grade
preparing themselves so that they would be encouraged to take
in high school 4 years of math and 4 years of high school
science and 4 years of high school English so that that way,
they are better prepared for that career.
Currently, we see many students who come to colleges and
universities throughout the United States completely
unprepared. Some say they may want to become an engineer, but
yet they have only had 1 year of math in high school, and they
are underprepared for that kind of a degree. So we want to make
sure that young people are well prepared for the future.
The Chairman. Each of you have doctorate degrees. You have
excelled in education. But you attended college in an earlier
time when we did not have access to some of the technologies
like text messaging, video relay, that have widespread use
today.
I just wonder if each of you could reflect on how job
prospects for college students who are deaf have changed over
time? And do you have any crystal ball for what that looks like
in the future? I will elaborate a little.
I remember when we first got our relay systems that was
first put in the ADA, but then it came into being I think a
little bit later, in the mid-1990s--the relay systems. And they
are very good. And the TDYs that we all use, that we had in our
offices. But now, all my deaf friends send me messages.
Mr. Hurwitz. No longer.
The Chairman. I don't even have to talk to them on the
phone. They just send me messages now. Just watching the change
in the technology. Talk a little bit about that and how you see
this going into the future.
Mr. Hurwitz. That is an excellent question. I was just
thinking about during my high school years and college years as
well, we had nothing in terms of accommodations. We had never
even heard of the word ``interpreter.'' I mean, they were
unheard of at that time.
But we had some volunteer interpreters who worked in church
settings, but no one in the school systems. So we had to make
it through just by the skin of our teeth, just do as best as we
could and relying on friends or classmates to share notes with
us and meeting with the teacher after class to get what we
could.
That was my experience, and I refer to those ages as ``the
dark ages.'' To be honest, at that time, I didn't even know
what I was missing. It wasn't until I was in the doctoral
degree program that I actually had an interpreter for the first
time, and I thought to myself, ``My God, the information that
is here.'' It was almost like an information explosion for me.
I looked back and pondered how on earth did I make it
through with what I didn't have? Back then, I was maybe a B or
C average student. But having an interpreter and having
captioning support, it just allowed me to do so much better
academically.
Just recently I was talking with some of our students here
on campus, and they were talking about social media being what
it is and how it is the thing of the day, and technology is
with them all the time. And they take that for granted.
Probably they are farther ahead of the faculty members here in
terms of their technological savviness. So faculty are always
trying to catch up.
I can envision the future being an amazing opportunity for
young children where they don't have any fears or anxieties
when it comes to technologies. They can just jump into the
social media setting and use video technologies at ease and
communicate with anyone, anywhere throughout the world.
I can remember when I was in Russia and one other time when
I was in China, I was actually able to communicate with my wife
through email correspondence on my pager, on my iPhone. You
know, it was very easy for us to communicate with one another.
Technology is the boon when it comes to people who are deaf
and hard-of-hearing. I mean, it is very exciting as we look
into the future.
In the past, communication was something that really
separated or technology was something that separated deaf
people from hearing people and communications. And now, with
that not being the case any longer, we are fully integrated.
Mr. Buckley. Senator, when I was a college student, I had
the benefit of going to NTID. I am a product. So I had the
benefit of a wonderful education.
But when I was a college student, I remember there was one
deaf lawyer. We all knew him. Now there are several hundred
deaf lawyers throughout the country, many deaf doctors. My own
daughter, who is deaf, is a veterinarian practicing in New
York.
These young people have a different attitude, thanks to you
for supporting the Americans with Disabilities Act. They have a
spirit of ``can do.'' And our job is to make sure we provide
support so they are successful.
I am very optimistic that technology will be very
beneficial. I am very optimistic that one of my two students
will become a Senator from New York some day.
Mr. Hurwitz. I second that.
Mr. Buckley. They are marvelous people. And thank you for
supporting that because ADA has made a significant difference
in the lives of all disabled people.
The Chairman. Thank you.
I just want that future Senator to know, however, that she
will not be the first person to give a sign language speech on
the Senate floor.
[Laughter.]
I did that in 1990 with the passage of the ADA. But that
would be wonderful.
I am sorry.
Senator Enzi.
Senator Enzi. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I appreciate the testimony of both of you. I have some
extensive notes on things that we can do, but I want to get
into a bit more detail.
I would like to know what kinds of partnerships that your
institutions have formed with businesses and employers to
encourage the hiring of your students, and what can be done to
encourage more partnerships, particularly those that are in
high demand in the high-skill industries?
Mr. Buckley. At NTID, we have a center on employment that
has full-time staff that reach out to 800 employers every year,
providing training on working together with deaf and hard-of-
hearing citizens. We are always traveling with teams throughout
the Nation.
I think it is an ongoing educational effort to make sure
that employers understand the opportunities that are available
by hiring qualified deaf and hard-of-hearing people, understand
what reasonable accommodation is. Aren't frightened by the cost
associated with that.
They have many misunderstandings about cost, and we are
able to show them that often very reasonable, very simple
accommodations--for example, texting back and forth--works very
effectively for communication between a supervisor and an
employee. That ongoing effort, both Gallaudet University and
NTID, are continuing to work with employers throughout the
Nation. We will continue to expand that in the future.
Mr. Hurwitz. I would agree with what has just been stated.
I also wanted to mention we have three research centers that
have already been establishing partnerships with other colleges
and universities.
Just as an example, we have the Visual Language and Visual
Learning Center, VL2, that has been funded by the National
Science Foundation. And they are tasked with exploring ways to
improve communication through language development, and they
are partnering with several other universities throughout the
United States and, actually, internationally.
Another example is we have the Technology Access Program.
That is funded by the U.S. Department of Education, and they
have partnerships established with a variety of different
universities where they are exploring possibilities of
technologies and applications that can be used in a variety of
different scenarios, including those in the workplace.
Third, I wanted to mention the hearing and speech in
science research that is happening here on campus. We have a
center where many universities are working with us to provide
information and opportunities to conduct further research in
the area of hearing and speech sciences.
And this is how we can work to help deaf people in the
future.
Senator Enzi. Kind of as a followup on that, what
industries have been the most open to working with you to place
students, and what industries have been the most resistant?
Mr. Buckley. For us, we have 200 different majors at RIT
that are open to students, and I believe that many of our
students are the first majors. For example, we have a new
program in sustainability sciences, and employers have never
thought of hiring a deaf person because deaf students have
never majored in that area at RIT in the past. But I believe
that all fields are open and that if we can prepare students
with the appropriate skills to compete, then all the fields are
open to everyone.
Mr. Hurwitz. We have graduates who have been hired by a
number of different companies throughout the United States. In
fact, we have two of our alums who will be speaking about their
experiences, working for two major companies, one being IBM and
the other Sprint.
There will always be challenges that we face in the
workplace. That is certain. Challenges that exist just in terms
of the knowledge and understanding that is out there in terms
of the abilities of deaf and hard-of-hearing people to be
employed.
Oftentimes, there is a lot of misunderstandings that exist
and just assumptions about what people can and cannot do. We do
have a career center here that provides awareness training to
future employers in this area. So this will always be an area
of challenge.
I can remember at one point in time, it was some time ago,
there was a mayor of a city in Texas who made a statement. And
he said that you probably can change behaviors overnight, but
to change attitudes, that is an entirely different story.
There is always going to be those two major barriers that
we face that we need to work to remove. One of them being that
of the environmental barriers, and that is an easy fix for us.
But the other barriers are attitudinal barriers, and they
create quite a bit more of a challenge for us. And that is our
job now to work together so that we can educate employers about
what deaf and hard-of-hearing people can do in the workplace
and how they can be a great asset in the future.
Gallaudet University is very excited about our professional
programs and our new pre-professional programs for deaf people
being able to become doctors and architects and lawyers and
business people. We do believe it can happen.
Senator Enzi. I love your enthusiasm and your answers, and
I know that at some point, someone had high expectations for
you, which translated into high expectations for yourself. And
I appreciate that you are passing on those high expectations to
others now.
I have a series of questions, but they are a bit more
technical, and I will provide those in writing and would hope
that you would respond on them so that I can make that a part
of the testimony as well.
Mr. Hurwitz. Absolutely. Happy to do that.
The Chairman. Before you leave, just two things. One, there
was a recent story, maybe some of you read, about a young man
in California who wanted to join the Army. He had all of the
abilities that was needed, but the Army turned him down.
I have Andy back here working on that right now, and I hope
to have--some things take a little time. But I am now working
with the Secretary of Defense, an old classmate of mine, by the
way. It always helps to have friends.
[Laughter.]
And hopefully, in the next several months, we will have
some good news that young people who are deaf can find
occupations in the U.S. military, just like they should be able
to.
Mr. Hurwitz. Fantastic.
[Applause.]
The Chairman. Andy Imparato said to me that a couple of
years ago, he was trying to place a deaf intern in a
congressional office, and the intern coordinator said to him,
``Excuse my ignorance, but what would a deaf person do in a
congressional office? ''
As you said, it is the attitudinal barriers. That is what
you got to break down.
Mr. Hurwitz. Exactly.
The Chairman. And that sometimes takes a lot of time. But I
think once they find out that a person with deafness can do
anything that anybody else could do in the office, you would be
amazed how they get over it.
Thank you both very much for being here. We will move on to
the next panel. Thank you.
Mr. Hurwitz. Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Applause.]
The Chairman. On our second panel, we have three witnesses.
Our first witness is Seth Bravin. Mr. Bravin manages strategy
and solutions for the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility
Center in Frederick, MD. In his prior role with IBM, he did
finance and planning for the Global Public Sector.
Before joining IBM, he worked for Booz Allen Hamilton, a
management and technology consulting firm, and also for Dow,
Lohnes, and Albertson, a corporate law firm. Mr. Bravin
graduated from Gallaudet in 1996, received his MBA from Cornell
University in 2003. We welcome you, Mr. Bravin.
Our second witness is Michael Ellis. Mr. Ellis is the
national director of Sprint Relay and is based in Denver, CO.
Mr. Ellis is responsible for nationwide domestic and
international telecommunications relay services, including the
traditional 711 services, wireless, conference captioning,
Internet, and video customer applications. He supervises 30
employees, many of whom are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
Mr. Ellis earned his B.A. from Baker University in Kansas,
an M.A. from Gallaudet, and he currently serves on the
Foundation Board for NTID and Gallaudet University's Board of
Associates. We welcome you, Mr. Ellis.
And of course, we kept our best for last, our final witness
is Leila Hanaumi, a fifth-year senior here at Gallaudet. She
was born and raised in the Bay area of California, graduated
from the California School for the deaf in Fremont. Her parents
are also Gallaudet alumni.
She is the editor-in-chief of the Buff and Blue. She is a
senator for the Gallaudet student congress, an active member of
her sorority, an actress on Bison TV series, and an intern for
a company that focuses on bilingual storytelling products. And
we welcome you, Ms. Hanaumi.
Thank you all for being here.
As with the previous two, your testimonies will all be made
a part of the record in their entirety. And I would just ask if
you could sum it up in 5 or 7 minutes.
We will start, as I introduced, with Mr. Bravin.
STATEMENT OF SETH E. BRAVIN, ACCESSIBILITY STRATEGY AND
SOLUTIONS EXPERT, IBM HUMAN ABILITY AND ACCESS-
IBILITY CENTER, FREDERICK, MD
Mr. Bravin. [The following testimony was delivered through
an interpreter.] Hi. Good afternoon, Chairman Harkin, Senator
Enzi, members of the committee, and esteemed Gallaudet friends
and colleagues.
My name is Seth Bravin. I am a strategic industries program
manager at IBM and have been for 9 years. I want to thank the
committee members for an opportunity to speak on a topic that
is both a personal passion and a partial focus of my job with
IBM.
On behalf of the company, I would like to thank you
personally, Chairman Harkin, for agreeing to visit our office
in Iowa later this week. Thank you so much.
With the committee's permission, I would like to share my
personal story. My parents are both deaf. They are both college
graduates, and they worked hard to become very successful. I
benefited from their professionalism and their personal
experience. I have had a very supportive home environment that
encouraged my ambition. I want to stress the importance in also
community service.
I graduated from Gallaudet 15 years ago. This is an amazing
institute. There are great role models, technology, and they
really give the students an opportunity to maximize their
success in life.
While at school here, I had an opportunity to interact with
top-notch faculty members and public sector members. I would
like to thank the consortium programs as well. I took a few
financial courses over at Georgetown University. Those
experiences at Georgetown and here at Gallaudet are amazing,
and they made me build confidence in how to function
effectively in a hearing work world.
After graduating from Gallaudet, I spent 5 years in
corporate law, in consulting. Then I went to Cornell University
for my MBA, and as I was going to graduate, IBM recruiters came
out, and I interviewed and got a full-time position with IBM.
Clearly, higher education played a very significant and vital
role in improving employment outcome for people with
disabilities, including deaf and hard-of-hearing people.
First, the power of successful deaf and hard-of-hearing
role models can't be underestimated. It is important for
students to see firsthand how deaf and hard-of-hearing
professionals can really thrive in the workplace. And in fact,
one of my role models, Fred Weiner, is here currently.
Second, colleges and universities can pursue partnerships
with companies to provide students an opportunity to innovate
and get real world experience. Just last year, I visited RIT
with a few other IBMers and met with the Center on Access and
Technology to explore opportunities to collaborate, including
intellectual property development. I am actually flying to
Rochester tonight for a conference to continue building that
relationship.
Another opportunity for deaf and hard-of-hearing students
to build leadership skills and communication skills--I remember
as I was a student--I was on student congress. At business
school, we were often assigned to work with three or four
others to work throughout the semester on projects.
Fourth and final, maybe most important, is the internship
connections and possibilities. I call an internship a long-term
interview. It is an opportunity for employers to see the
students that they are hiring and employing a deaf and hard-of-
hearing student is not very difficult to do and will help them
overcome any type of fear of the unknown. That is probably the
greatest inhibitor to employment.
I have fond memories of my two summer internships with
Verizon in New York and also one internship with a corporate
law office here in Washington, DC--Dow, Lohnes, and Albertson.
Gallaudet's career center took the initiative and provided
awareness training to the law firm that contributed to my
success and led to a full-time position and 2 great years
there. And I believe Dr. Hurwitz and Dr. Buckley spoke to the
importance of and the role of the career center in supporting
the employers.
Employers play a critical role. I want to share a few
examples of how IBM supports individual disabilities. We have
cost recovery programs in place that eliminate the charges of
any accommodations for employees with disabilities from
individual managers' budget, and you move that cost to a
central fund at the corporate level. I can't say enough about
that program. It really opened doors for many employees with
disabilities to have opportunities.
And a support system that works with HR professionals and
experienced IBMers to work with a transition of new employees
with disabilities. I can still remember my lunch with two
experienced IBMers 9 years ago. They gave me a really warm
welcome, and that made a huge difference.
Third is accessibility and technology and ecosystem.
Personally, without the technology, I would not be as
productive as I am today or the person I am. When I joined in
2003, IBM had already established relationships with
interpreting and CART so I could be productive from day one.
I have some recommendations to offer. I think educational
institutes with accessibility in mind from the outside.
Oftentimes, accessibility for students can benefit other
students and foreign students, for example, as well.
Also for employers to make accessibility a core business
value. Also government can enact and enforce new, modern,
relevant labor laws. And fourth, which is a shared
responsibility, is to build candidate pipeline for employers.
IBM's experience suggests that employment outcomes of deaf
and hard-of-hearing individuals can't just be achieved by
public or private entities separate. It requires a lot of
collaboration among government and private sectors, as well as
academia and advocacy groups as well, and GMs. And through this
collaboration and ecosystem, we can impact and effect a very
long-lasting change.
Chairman Harkin and Senator Enzi, members of the committee,
thank you for the opportunity to testify in front of you today.
I look forward to answering any questions you may have for me
this afternoon.
Thank you.
[Applause.]
[The prepared statement of Mr. Bravin follows:]
Prepared Statement of Seth E. Bravin
Good morning, Chairman Harkin, Senator Enzi, members of the
committee and esteemed Gallaudet colleagues and friends. My name is
Seth Bravin. I am a strategic industries program manager at the IBM
Corporation. In this role, I am responsible for managing strategy and
solutions for the IBM Human Ability and Accessibility Center. During my
9 years at IBM, I have hosted several company-sponsored technology
camps for high school students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, and I
currently serve on the board of directors for the Lexington School for
the Deaf and the Maryland Association of the Deaf.
As a deaf professional and committed advocate for the rights and
inclusion of all people with disabilities, I am honored to appear
before this committee to discuss leveraging higher education to improve
employment outcomes for people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, a
subject that is both a personal passion and a partial focus of my job
at IBM.
I also am here to bring to the committee's attention several public
policy issues that inhibit our collective ability to fully enable this
segment of the U.S. population to not only obtain gainful employment,
but to develop meaningful and economically viable careers. I will
address difficulties associated with recruiting, hiring and retention
of people with disabilities and the accessibility of information and
communications technologies in workplaces and institutions of higher
learning. I will conclude with recommendations for the committee's
consideration. It is our hope that the committee will review these
recommended topics during the current congressional session.
These ongoing challenges are the consequence of lingering cultural
discomfort with disabilities and attitudes facing people with
disabilities, here in the United States and around the world. Put
another way, it is overcoming the ``fear of the unknown'' regarding the
people with disabilities that is the greatest inhibitor to employment
and a fully inclusive workplace. These issues, identified by a 2007
study \1\ conducted by the National Council on Disability, include
areas like education, training, and transportation.
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\1\ National Council on Disability study. ``Empowerment for
Americans with Disabilities: Breaking Barriers to Careers and Full
Employment.'' 2007. (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/2007/10012007.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
MY PERSONAL STORY
I'll begin with a brief overview of my own journey, which I believe
is relevant to the topic of today's hearing. I was born deaf. My
parents, who are also deaf, both attended and graduated from college.
My father was also an IBMer for nearly 25 years. Both worked hard to
achieve success in work and life, and I benefited significantly not
only from their personal experiences and professional lessons learned,
but also from an enormously supportive home environment that encouraged
my ambition and stressed the importance of giving back to the
community.
Growing up, my parents taught me that my deafness was not a
limiting factor, but an important part of who I was as a person. Early
on, I learned that my deafness was a trait that helped me facilitate
the development of an extra set of skills and entirely unique
perspectives that could add real value in learning and work
environments. It was my parents' positive attitudes and certainty in my
ability to succeed that made me determined to pursue a degree in higher
education at Gallaudet University.
Gallaudet is an amazing institution that provides students who are
deaf and hard-of-hearing with the environment, role models, technology
and tools to really succeed in higher education. For students who are
willing to challenge themselves, Gallaudet also offers formative
experiences that directly contribute to easing the transition into the
workforce for people who are deaf and setting them up for success.
For example, thanks to Gallaudet's consortium program with more
than a dozen other universities, I was able to take finance courses at
Georgetown University. Here, I was not only exposed to a different set
of top-notch educators and role models, but I was able to build
confidence in my ability to communicate effectively in a hearing world.
At Gallaudet, I also learned from and regularly interacted with
qualified instructors who were also deaf and hard-of-hearing
professionals actively engaged in both the academic and private-sector
workforce. These important people played a pivotal part in helping me
believe not only that I could get a challenging job, but achieve any
goal I set for myself personally or professionally.
After graduating with honors in 1996, I spent 5 years working in
consulting and corporate law. At the same time, I taught for several
summers at the Gallaudet Leadership Institute, which nurtured a passion
for giving back to my community and helped me continue to develop
critical leadership skills. Shortly afterward, I
attended Cornell University where I obtained my Masters of Business
Administration. Near the end of my time there, IBM recruiters made a
trip to campus. I interviewed and shortly afterward accepted a position
with the company where, as I mentioned earlier, my father worked for
more than two decades.
While I have much to say about my 9 years with this exceptional
company, I want to first stress that my educational and professional
success would not have been possible without the support of my
incredible family and the opportunities afforded to me here at
Gallaudet. The importance of family attitudes and tailored, challenging
higher education learning experiences, facilitated by deaf and hard-of-
hearing role models for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing cannot
be overstressed. In fact, one of my role models, Fred Weiner is here
today. He had a rewarding career with AT&T and is now the executive
director of Program Development at Gallaudet.
Not all young people with disabilities are so lucky. More than 90
percent of deaf children are born into hearing families.\2\ Some
hearing parents are able to provide the necessary resources to raise a
successful deaf or hard-of-hearing child. Other parents, however loving
and supportive, do not have the same personal tools, resources and life
lessons to share. Enabling the full societal inclusion of people who
are deaf and hard-of-hearing as well as the much larger total
population of people with disabilities simply cannot be accomplished by
any one entity. Governments, advocacy groups, non-government
organizations, institutions of higher learning, and employers must,
where possible, partner to provide what many families cannot, either
from lack of personal experience, finances, perspective or ability.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ Deaf Understanding. ``Facts about Deafness.'' (http://
www.deafunderstanding.com/modules
.php'name=News&file=article&sid=11).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Together, through visionary policies and programs, I believe we can
find new ways to support, encourage and enable the equal participation
and success of people with disabilities throughout primary, secondary
and post-secondary education systems, in the workforce, and in society
at large.
HOW HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS CAN HELP
Clearly, higher education institutions play a vital role in helping
improve employment outcomes for students who are deaf or have hearing
loss. Certainly the culture of inclusion that I alluded to earlier
matters a great deal. Modern and accessible technology is also
critical, but let me share a few additional thoughts regarding my
educational experience and how higher education institutions can really
help as it pertains to employment and employment readiness.
First, at the risk of belaboring the point, the power of
successful deaf and hard-of-hearing role models simply cannot be
underestimated. I remember one professor at Gallaudet who worked at
Merrill Lynch and another from Cornell who worked on Wall Street. While
my professor at Cornell was not deaf, for me, having exposure to a
professional who had real working experience on Wall Street made a
tremendous impression. Through my relationships with these professors,
I saw firsthand how they thrived in the workplace. This gave me the
assurance and determination to pursue my goals.
Second, opportunities for deaf students to develop
communication and leadership skills are absolutely essential to
preparing them for success in the workplace. I, for example, served on
the Student Congress representing my class at Gallaudet. Universities
and colleges can help by providing more of these kinds of opportunities
and strongly encouraging students with hearing loss to take advantage
of them.
The third and perhaps most overlooked thing that students,
colleges and universities can do for the deaf or hard-of-hearing is
provide ample opportunities for collaborative team-oriented work. When
I was in business school, professors often assigned three or four
students to work together for an entire semester on group projects. We
met during the evenings and on weekends and only sometimes did the
interpreter join us. Other times we used instant messaging and e-mail
to communicate. The experience really taught me and my classmates how
to be creative and flexible in communicating and how to work as a team
regardless of disability.
Next, I'd like to talk briefly about the importance of
diversity. At Cornell, we had students from more than 30 countries.
Each brought with them different perspectives and cultural experiences.
For me personally, it was interesting to watch how students were able
to adapt to life at business school. I remember one student from China
who had never visited the United States before and we were assigned to
the same group for one semester. That was a successful experiment of
inclusion and diversity that I will never forget. The opportunity to
create personal relationships with people who are different is an
important element in how we improve understanding and flatten unhelpful
stereotypes.
At the post-secondary level, support from Career Centers
is also extremely important. Students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing
need personalized help to understand the best ways to position their
education, previous experience and unique skill sets to potential
employers. Resume development, mock interviews and presentations with
the alumni in the working world are all valuable ingredients for a
successful launch into the business world. Now that I am with IBM, I am
occasionally asked to speak about my IBM experiences at Gallaudet
University. Based on the response from students, I almost always walk
away feeling as though I've made a real difference for some of them.
The final, but probably most important service colleges
and universities can offer are internship connections. Internships
represent the No. 1 critical success factor for obtaining a job in the
``real world'' of work. I call internships a long-term interview. When
done correctly, companies and students with disabilities generally have
surprisingly positive experiences. More often than not, internships
give employers the opportunity to see first hand that hiring and
employing a person with a disability isn't as hard as they previously
believed. Students with disabilities too, are often pleasantly
surprised to find that they are perfectly capable of functioning in an
able-bodied workplace when paired with employers who are willing to
accommodate their needs.
In today's competitive work world, it is the rare graduate who can
expect to land a good job without some kind of internship experience.
For students with disabilities, this previous work experience is even
more essential.
HOW EMPLOYERS LIKE IBM CAN HELP
Employers, too, play a critical role in improving employment
outcomes for people with disabilities--including people who are deaf or
have hearing loss. I'm proud to say that IBM has a long history of
commitment to hiring people with disabilities and innovating to
accommodate for their unique technology needs within the workplace and
marketplace.
Diversity Policies and Programs
When IBM first began exploring accessible technology innovation, it
was due in part to an ongoing need to support our own workforce, which
has always been extraordinarily diverse. In fact, for more than 100
years, IBM has embraced the concept of equal employment opportunity. We
have aggressively pursued our own corporate policies and practices due
to the deep and abiding belief of our founder, Thomas J. Watson, Sr.,
who in 1914 hired the first IBMer with a disability, 59 years before
the U.S. Rehabilitation Act and 76 years before the Americans with
Disabilities Act.
IBM has been embracing diversity and inclusion to drive innovation
throughout the company since our founding. Our diversity milestones:
1899: We hired our first black and female employees.
1914: We hired our first IBMer with a disability.
1934: We recruited our first professional women, three
decades before the Equal Pay Act. IBM's founder, T.J. Watson Sr., also
promised women ``the same kind of work for equal pay.'' We also created
focused development programs for those women so that they developed
skills for critical jobs that were previously viewed as ``men's jobs.''
1941: We hired Michael Supta, a blind psychologist, to
recruit 181 people with disabilities. Dr. Supta's motto was ``No person
is handicapped if he or she has the right job.''
Since 1995, IBM has increased its number of identified executives
with disabilities 200 percent.
We also look at the specific jobs people with disabilities perform.
We found that 58 percent of employees with disabilities are in key
skill groups.
People with disabilities hold or have held job titles at IBM that
include IBM Fellow, our highest technical level, vice president,
director of benefits, director, IBM Human Ability and Accessibility
Center, Global Solutions director of Business Development; director of
Workforce Communications, distinguished engineer; software engineer;
development engineer; IT architect; sales and marketing specialist.
These are high-level jobs that directly impact our clients. That
means IBMers with disabilities contribute to the bottom line of our
business--by serving clients, advancing technology or earning patents.
I'd like to take a moment and showcase one of my colleagues who
embodies IBM's values and possesses the work ethic I just described.
Dr. Dimitri Kanevsky is an IBM master inventor with more than
100 patents to his name. Deaf since the age of 3, Dimitri
exhibited an aptitude for math early on, attending a special
school for mathematically gifted children in the Soviet Union.
In 1969 he entered Moscow State University, where he went on to
receive both his Master's and Ph.D. in math.
Today Dimitri, 24-year IBMer, creates new technologies at the
Watson research center in New York. His work includes human
language technologies, communications technologies for
accessibility, and speech recognition. Notably, his work has
directly benefited clients in the auto industry and law
enforcement. He is a role model for many.
IBM has worked diligently to develop an end-to-end approach for
recruiting, hiring and retaining IBMers with disabilities. We began by
establishing a Global Accommodations Guideline requiring all new
buildings to have barrier-free design, upgrades automatically including
accessibility; and case-by-case reviews when IBMers with disabilities
join the company or change work locations. We also created corporate IT
standards to ensure our technology and tools were accessible to all of
our employees.
Over time, our holistic approach expanded to include:
Thirteen Diversity Network Groups for IBMers with
Disabilities. These groups come together to provide support for our
people with disabilities and to engage the larger IBM community to
raise awareness and understanding about our people with disabilities.
Diversity Councils within every business unit worldwide.
People with Disabilities Technical Leaders Forum held
every 2 years.
Online communities and forums on our company intranet.
A Cost Recovery Program that removes the cost of
accommodations for disabled employees from the individual manager's
budget to ensure that hiring and promotion decisions are based on skill
and talent. Since instituting this process, IBM has spent about $2
million a year accommodating employees worldwide.
Internships and mentoring programs--past and present--
specifically tailored to people with disabilities, such as:
Entry Point: A program developed between the American
Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), IBM, and
NASA, IBM has placed 191 students with disabilities in summer/
internships and hired 44 students to regular employment. As an
IBMer, I joined Entry Point's booth at Gallaudet's annual
career fair to help with recruiting.
Lift: A nonprofit program that trains computer
programmers and analysts with substantial physical disabilities
and then contracts for up to a year with companies like IBM.
Project View: An IBM diversity recruitment program
offering Latino, African American, Asian, Women, Persons with
Disabilities and Native American, BA, BS, MS, and Ph.D.
students the opportunity to explore IBM's national career
options. This has been an especially successful path into IBM
for many people with disabilities. I personally know a number
of deaf colleagues who first identified career opportunities at
IBM through the Project View program.
Reverse mentoring sessions in which senior IBM executives
meet with IBMers with disabilities from around the world to discuss
personal experiences, viewpoints on our company culture, accessible
technology solutions for our workplace and career progression.
At IBM, we believe it's not enough to hire people with
disabilities--we want them to thrive as well as aspire to, and attain
leadership roles.
Finally, with respect to employers and people with disabilities,
I'd like to mention the importance of creating appropriate and
responsive support systems, not just for people with disabilities, but
for key professionals as well. For example, IBM human resources (HR)
professionals supply the perspective and experience necessary to help
hiring managers make informed decisions and provide unique approaches
to problem solving. In addition, hiring managers and H.R. professionals
sometimes contact me for advice to help with the transition of a new
employee with a disability. I also reach out to new employees who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing to give them a warm welcome. Other IBMers with
disabilities do this as well. It simply is part of our culture and it's
one of the reasons why IBM is continually recognized as a top employer
for people with disabilities.
Accessible Information and Communications Technologies: The ``Great
Equalizer''
Accessible information and communications technologies level the
playing field for people with disabilities, including people who are
deaf and those with hearing loss. In fact, technology is the ``great
equalizer'' for people with disabilities.
I am proud to highlight IBM's contributions to helping transform
the information and assistive technology landscape to advance digital
inclusion of all people include:
1975: First Braille printer.
1980: Talking typewriter for people who are blind.
1988: Screen Reader/DOS--One of the first screen reading
products in the world. The word ``screen reader'' is now used as the
name of the category of software.
1990: Voice Type and Via Voice (1998) technologies, which
have roots in research for helping people who are deaf and hard-of-
hearing.
1997: IBM Home Page Reader--The first practical screen
reader and voice browser product in the world.
2003: Web Accessibility Technology (WAT)--Named ``2003
Product of the Year'' by the National Disabilities Council.
2004: IBM CaptionMeNow--Enabled deaf and hard-of-hearing
users to attain captioning for corporate Web casts and pod casts on
demand.
2008: IBM AbilityLab Sametime Language Translator--
Provides multilingual translation of IBM, Lotus, Sametime, chats to
enhance collaboration between colleagues who speak different languages.
2008: IBM AbilityLab Sametime Conference Transcriber--
Delivers speech-to-text capability for IBM Lotus Sametime text and
voice chat to allow people who are deaf and hard of hearing to more
actively participate in meetings and teleconferences.
2009: IBM AbilityLab Captioner and Editor--Delivers cost-
effective solution for real-time captioning of rich media content.
2010: IBM AbilityLab Voice Chat Transcriber--Enables
automatic, real time transcriptions of conversations conducted through
Voice over VoIP applications for people who are deaf and hard-of-
hearing.
For me personally, without technology I would not be as competitive
or productive in the workplace as I am now--if at all. IBM is, not
surprisingly, adept at creating and maintaining the right ecosystems to
support IBMers with disabilities. When I came to work here in 2003, the
company already had relationships in place with interpreting and
captioning agencies so that I could be productive from day one. This
kind of approach by employers is crucial to supporting the success of
new IBMers with disabilities.
The reality is that in today's agile office workplace, everything
is connected, collaborative, and dynamically changing. Workers
communicate via e-mail, instant messaging, and Web conferencing.
Documents, reports, and calendars are all electronic. Business
processes are now managed via online applications. Social media sites
(Facebook, Twitter), news feeds, and Web applications (Google docs) are
increasingly being used, and social capabilities are being incorporated
into enterprise applications to drive new levels of global
collaboration and innovation.
In many ways, this technology-based workplace creates an
environment where workers with disabilities can have the flexibility to
participate more equally and fully. Often however, these technologies
were designed and launched without the ability to accommodate the needs
of all people with disabilities. Audio-visual content creates
difficulties for those with hearing and vision disabilities. Small
devices require fine motor skills, which individuals with limited
mobility or dexterity may not have. And the cognitive load is a
challenge for those with cognitive disabilities.
For the potential of an inclusive workplace to be realized, current
and future workplace technologies should be optimized for accessibility
and standardized. IBM has made a commitment to advancing global
standards and legislation in accessibility. We have led and contributed
to the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Contents Accessibility
Guidelines (1999, 2010); U.S. Rehabilitation Act, Section 508 (2001);
W3C Accessible Rich Internet Applications (2009). We continue to lead
and contribute to 25 working groups in standards organizations
worldwide, with the goal of harmonized international accessibility
standards.
Fundamentally, accessibility is about democratizing access to
information and services for everyone--regardless of age or ability--to
support full and active participation in the workforce and society.
Finally, in addition to advancing accessibility for our clients and
the world, IBM has retained a dedication to innovation on behalf of our
employees. In 2009, IBM developed a first-of-a-kind integrated IT
solution, Accessible Workplace Connection (AWC), to bring together all
of the company's processes, accommodations, intelligence and
accessibility innovation into a single, integrated and globally managed
solution for IBMers with disabilities, their managers, and the human
resources staff that support them.
Designed to deliver a ``one stop'' accommodations resource, the
first version of AWC was released late last year and has already begun
streamlining requests for items like screen readers and live captioning
for teleconferences as well as centralizing the delivery processes. In
the coming year, enhanced collaboration capabilities within AWC will
also enable employees and established IBM communities to leverage the
experiences of coworkers around the globe and ensure consistency in how
accommodations are made and used throughout different geographies.
INCREASING THE HIRING OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
Having addressed some of IBM's best practices for recruiting,
hiring and retaining employees with disabilities, I'd like to talk
about the need for employers to increase the hiring of people with
disabilities, including those who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.
First, take a look around the room. Take note of the blackberries,
cell phones, or even laptops that either you have or the person next to
you has. If you haven't noticed, the world of work has indeed changed.
The new normal for work no longer is the traditional 9 to 5 workplace
or is based upon a continuous Monday-Friday routine. The new normal
work is characterized by rapid changes in technology and dynamic
markets where clients want 24/7 availability of our systems and
services. These new technologies and client expectations create greater
opportunities for the kind of flexible work options that increase
employment options for people with disabilities. This is the new world
of work--a world I believe is extending a hand to people with
disabilities to not only participate, but to lead. IBM's workforce
model recognizes this new normal in work.
At IBM, we seek to create an inclusive culture for our workforce,
which include many of the concepts I just mentioned. Since 1995, IBM
has measured our global journey toward inclusion through the
representation of our people, the transformation of IBM culture, and
the behavior expected of us as outlined by our company values. For
those of you not familiar with our values, they are:
Dedication to every client's success;
Innovation that matters--for our company and for the
world; and
Trust and personal responsibility in all relationships.
Today, approximately 3,000 IBMers around the world have self-
identified as having a disability, and we estimate that people with
disabilities represent 1-3 percent of our global population, all the
while remembering that disclosing one's disability is a very personal
and private matter which is not mandatory.
THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN EASING TRANSITIONS FROM EDUCATION TO
EMPLOYMENT
I include people with all types of sensory and mobility challenges
because there are certain practical realities that must be addressed
for each of these groups to enable them to effectively transition from
post-secondary education to the workforce.
A major barrier to employment for people with disabilities is
accessible transportation. According to the latest National
Organization on Disability/Harris Survey (2010),\3\ people with
disabilities are twice as likely to have inadequate transportation when
compared to the mainstream population (34 percent versus 16 percent).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Kessler Foundation/NOD 2010 Survey of Americans with
Disabilities (www.2010disability
surveys.org/pdfs/surveyresults.pdf)
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Lack of mobility is a major inhibitor not only to obtain a job, but
also if one aspires to a leadership role. The inability to travel, or
the perception that one cannot travel easily, may even remove people
with disabilities from consideration for a variety of jobs, making
career advancement more difficult. Government and business must
continue to partner and look at transportation from the perspective of
people with disabilities.
Another critical issue facing people with disabilities
transitioning to work is that of assistive technology. The Harris
survey I referenced also reported that Americans with disabilities not
only rely on assistive technology, but a third reported they would lose
their independence without it. Many assistive technology accommodations
cost as little as $500.00. At IBM, we've found that investments in
technology can help enable incredibly capable IBMers to reach their
highest potential and productivity.
Recommendations
FOR EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
Plan with accessibility in mind. As the planet progresses with
increasing speed toward a fully knowledge-based economy, driven and
enabled by advanced technology, one thing is certain: Education will be
a critical determinant of success in the 21st century.
Despite sweeping global economic changes since 2008, demand for
knowledge workers with specialized skills continues to grow by 11
percent a year. Many of these jobs will require lifelong training and
continuous updating of skills. Fulfilling global workforce requirements
while adjusting to new stakeholder expectations for highly personalized
and individualized learning experiences, is difficult at best,
especially given dramatic changes in the student landscape.
Global technology, government policy and demographic trends are
converging to drive the transformation of 21st century models for
education. CIOs and administrators of today's higher education
institutions must manage changing expectations with new economic
realities to create smarter systems that deliver on diverse stakeholder
demands.
Planning with accessibility in mind from the outset can not only
reduce long-term costs, but lays the foundation for an inclusive
culture and improves access to education for the entire workforce. At
IBM, 80 percent of our learning content is online and enables our
employees to access both knowledge and the expertise of their global
colleagues. Taking a holistic, enterprise-wide approach to
accessibility integration from the outset, enables cost-effective
compliance with current and emerging legislation.
IBM continues to invest in research innovations and business
insights essential to address end-to-end accessibility requirements
facing today's higher education institutions. Accessible technology
solutions can enable a culture of inclusion, especially in education
and learning where ability--and the expansion, development and
improvement of individual abilities--is the key metric.
FOR EMPLOYERS: MAKE ACCESSIBILITY A CORE BUSINESS VALUE
IBM defines an inclusive smarter workplace as one that includes
seamless integration of:
Smarter applications that are designed, implemented and
deployed to support the requirements of all users.
Consumable information in the form of Web sites,
documents, presentations and media that is enabled for accessibility.
Tools and applications that support inclusive
collaboration between all individuals, some of whom may have
disabilities.
To realize the goal of a more inclusive smarter workplace,
employers must elevate accessibility to a core business value,
comparable to security, with associated processes and risk management.
It must be:
Included in corporate policy;
Designed into the workplace governance processes and
infrastructure;
Measured and assigned a risk value; and
Reported.
for government: enact and enforce modern, clear and relevant labor laws
In the 21st century, the economy is characterized by technological
innovation, dynamic structural and market shifts, new business models,
new workforce management models and changing labor pools. Thus, how
work gets done and where it gets done is vastly different than it was a
mere decade ago. We have embraced this change at IBM.
For us, the world of work is characterized by a philosophy that
work is something one does, not a place one goes. We firmly believe
that enabling our employees to manage their work and personal lives is
a business imperative, one where technology enables all employees,
including those with special needs, to work from anywhere, at any time
they choose. However, elements of our labor law and associated
regulations are stuck in the old ways of the early 20th Century,
limiting our ability to comprehensively offer flexible work options to
our entire U.S. population. The solution is a modern, clear and
relevant labor law that reflects today's workforce needs where more
flexible work options are not only desired and encouraged, but also
permitted.
A SHARED RESPONSIBILITY: BUILD THE EMPLOYMENT CANDIDATE PIPELINE
Perhaps one of IBM's greatest challenges in continuing to increase
the employment of people with disabilities in our global workforce is
the lack of qualified candidates. Federal and State Governments can
help by creating incentive programs that begin with primary and
secondary education systems and extend through to post-secondary
institutions for higher learning.
Educational systems at all levels should be incentivized to:
Create inclusive environments in which K-12 students
with disabilities are fully integrated into mainstream
classrooms and given the tools and technology to participate.
Support deaf schools serving K-12 students and
provide innovative tools and technology to allow students to
reach their potential.
Promote a focus on STEM (Science, Technology,
Engineering and Math) education for all students, with a
special emphasis on identified students with disabilities who
have aptitudes in these subject areas.
Require IT accessibility training as a core component
of K-12 Teacher certification within each State.
Require universities that offer teacher credentialing
or continuing education courses to increase annually the
percent of their staff and administrators who have successfully
completed IT accessibility training until they have reached 85
percent (combined).
Require IT accessibility courses to be mandatory
academic coursework for all STEM degree programs as a pre-
requisite for any university receiving Federal research grant
funding--either directly or indirectly.
Establish a national clearinghouse for vendors and content that can
be used by States as part of their teacher credentialing/continuing
education.
Provide tax incentives to businesses that establish internship and
co-op programs specifically for students with disabilities.
Create a private-sector resource similar to the public sector Job
Accommodations Network to assist small- and medium-size business in
providing accommodations to support recruiting and hiring of interns,
co-ops and employees with disabilities.
Partner with State governments, city transit authorities and
employers to develop viable, cost-effective solutions that address
transportation barriers for people with disabilities.
CONCLUSION
As I said at the beginning of my testimony, IBM's research and
experience suggest that improving employment outcomes for people with
disabilities--including people who are deaf or have hearing loss--
cannot be achieved by any single public or private entity. This work
requires collaboration among business, government, advocacy groups,
academia and non-Government Organizations. Only through a collaborative
ecosystem can we affect real and lasting change. Furthermore, we can
all do more when it comes to inclusion and being comfortable with
people who are different than we are--not just people with
disabilities.
For some employers today, the inclination is to think that if a
person has a disability, the employment issue can be handled by simply
providing technology that enables an employee to work from home. In
some cases that may be true or even necessary. But it's critical for
people with disabilities to be visible and in the workplace. To
overcome those lingering societal misconceptions I mentioned earlier, a
professional with a disability must be fully integrated into the
workplace, not isolated.
I'm sure there are many organizations that will hire a person with
a disability with the right skills for a job, but how many have the
vision to consider that same person to run their company or
organization?
Today's institutions of higher learning can help by preparing
students with disabilities to lead. By giving them the skills, role
models, experiences and technology tools necessary for success,
universities and colleges help lay the foundation of confidence
necessary for students who are deaf, have hearing loss or any other
physical or sensory disability to pursue and attain not just jobs, but
careers. They can also help by increasing the visibility and
integration of people with disabilities in their institutions so that
our future workers and leaders enter the workplace with a higher level
of awareness about this community.
Employers can make a difference by creating cultures that celebrate
diversity and inclusion and provide the policies, processes and
technology tools to support it. At my company, when a person is hired
at IBM, they are immediately labeled an IBMer. There is no avoiding it.
This label is not about whether you are a person with a disability,
male or female. Nor is it about what color you are or where you call
home. It is a label that comes with enormous pride and sense of
community.
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, I hope my personal
experiences, the IBM history and practices I have discussed, and our
suggestions for related reforms, are helpful.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify before you today. I look
forward to answering any questions you may have.
The Chairman. Thank you. Very good. Thank you very much.
And now we will turn to Michael Ellis. Michael, welcome.
STATEMENT OF MICHAEL J. ELLIS, NATIONAL DIRECTOR, SPRINT RELAY,
DENVER, CO
Mr. Ellis. [The following testimony was delivered through
an interpreter.] Good afternoon, Chairman Harkin, Ranking
Chairman Enzi, and committee members.
Thank you for this opportunity to testify before the
committee. I am honored to share with you my experiences, both
as an individual who lives with a hearing loss and as a
business leader in the relay community.
But first, some personal history. I was born to a hearing
family and raised in a hearing world. But then at the ages of
14 and 20, I experienced a diving accident that resulted in
hearing loss, and those events changed my life.
The first person I met from the deaf world was Gerard
Buckley 28 years ago. He met me at a very critical time in my
life and was very supportive of me. He was extremely supportive
and encouraging to me.
He encouraged me to pursue my education despite my hearing
loss and to experience as many things as possible. With that
encouragement, I applied and was accepted to Gallaudet
University grad school.
Attending Gallaudet was a very eye-opening and inspiring,
powerful and life-changing experience. Everyone at Gallaudet
was supportive and encouraging of me. They taught me how to
accept and adjust to my hearing loss and how to just move on in
a very positive way.
After receiving my master's from Gallaudet, I worked in
human services for 5 years before I joined Sprint. For almost
20 years, Sprint has empowered me, developed me, and trained me
as part of a solution that breaks down barriers for people with
disabilities. I now work side by side with many other deaf and
hard-of-hearing and hearing professionals where we provide
functionally equivalent telecom. That access is provided for
thousands of consumers every day.
As national director for Sprint Relay, I currently serve on
the Foundation Board for NTID and the Board of Associates for
Gallaudet. For over 20 years, Sprint has been providing
products and services to deaf and hard-of-hearing community
members. Sprint is also an equal opportunity employer, and we
believe that diversity fosters creativity, sensitivity, and
growth.
Through diversity, we have been able to expand our products
and services to be more inclusive. And as a result, Sprint has
been recognized with numerous awards from different
organizations. Sprint offers a comprehensive array of
technology to people with disabilities.
Many examples can be found at www.sprint.com/accessibility.
There, you can find information about products and services for
customers who are deaf and hard-of-hearing, speech disabled,
blind or visually impaired, or people with mobility and
cognitive disabilities.
We provide accessibility for our employees as well. Just as
an example, we have ASL staff and contract interpreters. We use
video technology--it is almost like Hollywood Squares--that
empowers us to simultaneously see one another while using ASL
interpreters and audio-visual conferencing technology. Pretty
cool technology.
To quote one of my employees, ``At Sprint, accessibility is
a verb.'' Every day, we have access to meetings, social events,
emails, texting, IM, conference calls, just like our hearing
coworkers.
Finally, our training and continuing education classes also
have captioning. Our goal is to provide a positive, accessible
work experience for all.
Now, moving on to the role of higher education. I would
like to share with you how Sprint works with different
universities to create internship opportunities. These
internships provide great experience that can help prepare
students for work and help employers address possible
environmental or communicative or even attitudinal barriers
that may exist today. Some of these student interns may also
receive support from Vocational Rehabilitation Services
Administration.
Another great example of a valuable resource is PEPNet, the
Postsecondary Education Programs Network. As you may know,
PEPNet is under contract with the U.S. Department of Education
Office of Special Education to provide transitional support for
school to work.
Specifically, they have a program called ``Getting A Job:
Tools, Techniques, and Training.'' That is one of the many
support services that improves the employment outcomes for deaf
and hard-of-hearing students.
In sum, universities should continue to work with RSA, U.S.
Department of Education, and corporate America, all to maximize
resources, centralize funding, and encourage better preparation
for students transitioning from school to work.
In conclusion, based on my experience, it will be required
that strong partnerships between universities, corporations,
and Congress be established to achieve more favorable
employment outcomes for people who are deaf and hard-of-
hearing.
Thank you again for this opportunity to participate today.
And I look forward to your questions.
[Applause.]
[The prepared statement of Mr. Ellis follows:]
Prepared Statement of Michael J. Ellis
Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi and committee members, thank
you for this opportunity to testify before the committee as you examine
opportunities for positive employee outcomes for individuals who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing. Through our discussion, I plan to share my
experience as both an individual who lives with a disability, hearing
loss, and as an executive of the business community that has helped
Sprint deliver services to the deaf, hard-of-hearing and speech-
disabled community for the past 20 years.
My personal journey of living with deafness as a disability began
at the age of 14 and then again at the age of 20 as a result of diving
accidents. With the most profound hearing loss occurring 1 week prior
to my senior year of college, I adjusted my life with little to no
support or any type of reasonable accommodation. However, I didn't let
deafness define me. One of the very first professionals in the field of
deafness that I met was Dr. Gerard Buckley, current president of the
National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID). Gerry encouraged me
to use my education, recent hearing loss and personal experience to
further my education as a graduate student. So I applied and was
accepted to Gallaudet University. Becoming a graduate student at
Gallaudet was a positive, life changing event. While at Gallaudet, I
was taught how to embrace my disability and turn my hearing loss into a
positive. After graduating from Gallaudet with a M.A. degree, I worked
in the field of human services for 5 years before I joined the ranks at
Sprint. At the time, Sprint recognized me as someone that understood
the challenges of living with hearing loss and the related barriers and
felt that my experience, education and training could help Sprint
provide better services to people with disabilities. Thus, almost 20
years ago, Sprint hired and empowered me to be a part of a solution
that broke down barriers via our relay services. I now work side-by-
side with many other deaf and hard-of-hearing employees at Sprint where
we provide functionally equivalent telecommunications access for people
who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or speech disabled in all 50 States,
Washington, DC and Puerto Rico.
As the National Director of Sprint Relay, I am responsible for
nationwide domestic and international telecommunications relay
services, including traditional 711 services, wireless, CapTel, relay
conference captioning, Internet and video relay customer applications.
I currently serve on the Foundation Board for NTID and Gallaudet
University's Board of Associates.
OVERVIEW OF SPRINT INVOLVEMENT WITH THE DEAF AND HARD-OF-HEARING
COMMUNITY
Sprint has a long history of providing products and services to the
deaf and hard-of-hearing community, as well as being an employer who
enthusiastically employs a workforce that is diverse from many
perspectives. Sprint is an Equal Opportunity Employer, which includes
employing those individuals with disabilities. The company embraces a
diverse and inclusive workforce. At Sprint, we believe diversity
fosters creativity, sensitivity and growth. Through diversity we have
been able to grow our product portfolio to be more inclusive.
Sprint has developed partnerships and/or fostered mutually
beneficial relationships with higher education institutions, such as
Gallaudet, NTID, California State University--Northridge (CSUN), and
regional, State and local deaf and hard-of-hearing organizations. Many
of the people behind Sprint products and services for the deaf and
hard-of-hearing community are also people that live with deafness or
hearing loss, every day. These employees are actively involved in
serving on the boards of organizations such as NTID and Gallaudet. We
also hire deaf and hard-of-hearing summer interns for 10-week
assignments which provides them with the experience they can apply in
future studies and employment. Through the personal experiences of our
employees and knowledge gained from our partnerships, Sprint is able to
better relate to and support the communities we serve.
Our efforts to foster inclusion in both the workplace and
marketplace have resulted in Sprint being recognized by numerous
external organizations.
The Sprint Foundation supports the deaf and hard-of-hearing
community through grant support for K-12 education programs targeted at
improving middle school student achievement in science, technologies,
engineering and mathematics (STEM).
SPRINT TECHNOLOGY FOR EMPLOYEES AND CUSTOMERS
Sprint supports and promotes accessibility for our employees and
customers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. Iconic and award-winning
devices and relay services provide a great wireless value for people
who are deaf, hard-of-hearing or have a speech disability. These
services include:
Data only plans: includes email, Internet access, instant
messaging, text and picture messaging (SMS).
Hearing aid compatible wireless phones.
TTY compatible phones allow people with hearing and/or
speech loss to make and receive telephone calls.
711 dialing to access in-state Telecommunications Relay
Service (TRS).
Relay services include traditional TRS, Sprint IP Relay,
Sprint Video Relay, CapTel, Relay conferencing captioning, Sprint Relay
with AIM and Web CapTel.
Sprint Relay Video Customer Service (VCS) enables deaf or
hard-of-hearing customers to contact a Sprint representative who uses
American Sign Language.
Sprint also offers a comprehensive array of technology to our deaf
and hard-of-hearing employees. Many of these go beyond the definition
of ``reasonable accommodation'' that was crafted as part of the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Described below are just a few
examples of how we provide accessibility from the application process
to performing essential functions of the job that allow our employees
to enjoy equal benefits and privileges of a social, economic and
employment environment.
Phone amplifiers.
American Sign Language staff and contract interpreters are
available in a variety of settings and locations.
A multi-point video software tool much like ``Hollywood
Squares'' is used to allow up to 40 deaf and hearing employees,
contractors and consultants to simultaneously see each other while
using an ASL interpreter and/or audio conference technology. The
technology is made available via a licensing agreement with Nefsis.
Sprint offers the same accessible technology to our
employees that we offer our customers (see above).
On any given day, an employee at Sprint that happens to be deaf or
hard-of-hearing has the same access to meetings, conference calls,
email, texting and socializing as their hearing counterparts. He/she
may use a wireless device with a forward-
facing camera to connect with a video interpreter that will call a
hearing co-worker to arrange for a meeting later in the day. He/she
will then use Nefsis, a multi-point video tool from their computer with
built-in web cam to see conference call participants as well as an ASL
interpreter. In the afternoon he/she may take a training course through
Sprint's i-learn curriculum and the content will be captioned. Total
inclusion and accessibility is available, breaking down barriers to
create a very productive work experience at Sprint.
The Americans with Disabilities Act provides equal employment
opportunities for those individuals with a disability who can, either
with or without a reasonable accommodation, perform the essential
functions of a position they have or are seeking. The law provides for
an interactive process between the employer and the employee or
applicant to determine what an effective and reasonable accommodation
might be. Many individuals with disabilities require no accommodation
to perform the positions they hold, but they may need an accommodation
for a different position.
In addition to a flexible work environment that includes a number
of technology and mobility tools, Sprint provides employees with access
to a robust process to address their needs for an accommodation to
ensure their productivity. This not only ensures that we are fully
compliant with regulations but can positively impact a temporary
disability, ongoing need or an employee's return to work after a health
event. The company grants over 1,000 formal accommodations every year.
The confidential accommodation process is an interactive one
between an employee and his/her manager. The process provides resources
to employees and their managers regarding their role in the process.
Additionally, Employee Experience Managers are available to consult
with both employees and management as necessary.
Finally, Sprint acknowledges that providing our employees with
disabilities' reasonable accommodations is an integral part of who we
are as a company. The general predisposition under our reasonable
accommodation process is to provide an appropriate and effective
accommodation if at all possible when an employee presents their
request. Our main goal is for Sprint employees to be productive and
high-
performing thus enabling them to provide the best possible service to
our customers.
HIGHER EDUCATION'S ROLE
Higher education institutions can help educate corporations, both
big and small, by reaching out and inviting corporations to participate
in paid internship placements, job mentoring programs and transitional
support programs. As part of these career placement programs, higher
education institutions could offer the corporations consultative and
training programs on how to provide reasonable accommodation to current
and prospective employees who are deaf or hard-of-hearing. This
consultation and training support should help employers address the
types of environmental, communicative and attitudinal barriers that can
be common in the workplace. Helping companies overcome and address
these attitudinal barriers about deafness and disabilities in general
is a critical step towards inclusion. In the deaf community, leaders
such as I. King Jordan, have long emphasized that ``deaf people can do
anything but hear.'' This is so true and can only be fully understood
if deaf and hard-of-hearing prospective employees are given a chance to
prove it. Higher education institutions can work with corporations to
address attitudes that people with disabilities ``can't'' just because
they are different from the non-disabled.
Additionally, higher education programs can help further prepare
deaf or hard-of-hearing students by enabling them to become self-
advocates. This can be done by providing students with information
regarding reasonable accommodations available to them under Title I of
The Americans with Disabilities Act. Based on my experience, graduates
would benefit from more training and experience to effectively and
continuously advocate for themselves. They need more training and
support on this critical success factor if they are to achieve
sustainability in an increasingly competitive world of work. Students
should engage the employer prior to entering the interview process,
discuss any accommodations that have proven successful in the past and
utilize the accommodation process the employer has provided
understanding that each employer is unique and must evaluate the
situation on a case-by-case basis. This facilitates the employer being
prepared for the needs of the applicant and will improve the student's
chances of successfully finding not just a job but a career.
An expansion of the current Postsecondary Education Programs
Network (PEPNet) to focus on transition from higher education to the
world of employment would also be beneficial. The PEPnet Regional
Centers are currently supported by contracts with the U.S. Department
of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services,
and Office of Special Education Programs. PEPNet's ``Getting a Job!
Tools, Techniques, and Trainings'' Web site was developed and designed
for students who are deaf or hard-of-hearing and transitioning to work
as well as for the professionals who work with them. The Web site
offers a series of topical videos accompanied by supporting documents
and related materials, educator's guides and role model videos. For
more information, go to: http://www.pepnet.org/getajob/.
In sum, higher education should work in cooperation with the
Rehabilitation Services Administration and the U.S. Department of
Education, Office of Special Education, to maximize resources,
centralize funding and stimulate better preparation programs for
prospective employees who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
CONCLUSION
My personal experience as someone who lives with a disability and
overcomes the challenges of hearing loss along with my involvement in
the deaf and hard-of-hearing community and my corporate experience
developing services for this community has led me to believe it will
take a strong partnership between higher education institutions,
corporations and Congress to achieve more favorable employment outcomes
for people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
The Chairman. Thank you.
Next, Leila Hanaumi, please.
STATEMENT OF LEILA HANAUMI, STUDENT, GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY,
WASHINGTON, DC
Ms. Hanaumi. [The following testimony was delivered through
an interpreter.] Good afternoon and welcome, Chairman Harkin,
Senator Enzi, and members of the committee.
Thank you very much for the opportunity to be here with
you. Your investment of time and resources to this university
means so much to us.
I am honored to be here representing the student body to
testify before this committee, to share our experiences here at
Gallaudet University as students.
I have to say I don't know where I would be today if it
weren't for Gallaudet University. Gallaudet provides me a
unique experience for just myself and other students out there,
students who are both deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Gallaudet establishes high expectations for its students,
and there are so many opportunities that we experience right
and left. Students have these opportunities that they can jump
into and really grasp. There are resources available for us,
and one of those resources I wanted to mention is the career
center. I know it has been talked about today.
Thanks to the career center, I have actually had the
opportunity to get my first internship working with Deaf
Olympics. I was a reporter. I worked in Taipei, in Taiwan at
the 2009 Summer Olympics as a reporter.
I was there for 3 weeks. Actually, it was a 10-week
internship, but 3 weeks was onsite. And I have to say that was
one of the best experiences of my life. I grew so much through
my work. Every day I had to go to a couple of different
sporting events and then write a complete article just a few
hours afterwards.
And it wasn't just that, but with interactions with people
all around the world allowed me to learn how to communicate
through gestures, through interpreters, through everyday
opportunities. And let me tell you, the stress of the day was
nonstop. But from that experience, I have learned how better to
interact with people and gained lots more skills.
If it weren't for that internship, I don't know what I
would have done. It was through Gallaudet that I got that
internship. Nowhere else would I have heard about that until I
was able to learn from one of my professors here that it was
available. And this is just one example of the many
opportunities that Gallaudet affords its students.
I am now in my second internship, and this is working with
people who are bilingual, working with producing bilingual,
multicultural products that would best help deaf people learn
in the bilingual environment. It has been a wonderful
experience for me. I have really gained a lot from it.
Also a couple of times a year, we have job and career fairs
on campus. Today is a good example of that. We have a job fair
happening right now on campus. And through those career fairs,
lots of students are able to get internships. You get job
opportunities.
In fact, two of my friends both graduated from Gallaudet
last year, and one 2 years ago was actually able to get an
internship with Volkswagen just as a result of going to the
career fair, job fair, talking with people, getting an
internship, and then actually was hired, and today is working
full time at Volkswagen.
I mean, she just graduated this last May and has an amazing
job so soon after graduation. Once again, just another example
of what Gallaudet provides for this career fair.
Another one of my friends was working through the
recruitment program--the Workforce Recruitment Program, that
is--and they were able to get a job. He graduated and
immediately was employed through the Workforce Recruitment
Program and has been there a couple of years now. And again,
both of these examples show how successful students can be in
getting jobs right after graduation.
I also want to recognize the support I have been given by
Vocational Rehabilitation. Often, schools for the deaf have VR
services available to students who graduate to help them decide
where they want to go to college and provide some financial
support. I attended the California School for the deaf in
Fremont, and I was fortunate enough to have a VR office right
there on our campus.
As I was nearing graduation, just a short walk to the
building nearby, I was able to get some assistance from the VR
counselor to learn about Gallaudet. And there is no way I could
afford to come here if it weren't for the support of Vocational
Rehabilitation.
Gallaudet is often considered a Mecca for deaf and hard-of-
hearing people. And not just students here in America, but
students throughout the world. Everyone dreams of coming to
Gallaudet because we all know that coming here means we have
complete access, as deaf persons, to everything that happens
around us.
One wonderful thing about that access is it is direct
communication that we can have with our teachers, with our
colleagues, with faculty members, with our peers, everywhere we
go. I mean, even the cafeteria workers can communicate with us
in sign language, our own indigenous language. So it has really
afforded me a lot of personal growth here.
Of course, we face the changing demographics of our student
body. New signers are coming to campus more and more these
days, and we do offer accommodating services for them, and
technology is available today for them. So many things are now
more available and accessible that allows us more
opportunities.
We provide real-time captioning and interpreting services,
as well as note-taking services in classes. There are ASL
classes and tutoring afforded to students, many opportunities
ensuring that all students who are deaf and hard-of-hearing can
be successful. Regardless of their communication background,
regardless of whether they can sign or not, they will find this
campus fully accessible to them.
This is a place where we are really encouraged to grow as
much as we can, and I can personally vouch for that. My dream,
when I was growing up, was always to be an editor of a
magazine. But honestly, I never thought I would be able to do
it.
And the biggest reason for that was because of the issues
with communication. I mean, I always wanted to dream big, but
in my heart, I always wondered how will I be able to
communicate with my colleagues and my coworkers? I never
thought it was honestly possible until I came to Gallaudet and
I saw all that I could do.
I became the fundraiser for my class, kind of starting
small. And then from there, I moved up the ranks and became a
writer for the Buff and Blue, and then a copy editor. And there
I became manager and assistant editor, and before I knew it, I
was editor of the Buff and Blue last year.
I didn't come to Gallaudet expecting that I would be able
to do all these things. I never imagined it. But in fact, here
I was in this position now to encourage others to grow and to
dream big because that is how I experienced it.
There are so many little things and job experiences that
have helped me along the way. I was a peer leader for the
freshman class, for freshman seminar classes. When I was
offered the position, I went for it, as I have for many other
experiences, and I have grown personally so much. I have
learned about myself and learned to believe in myself.
I will be graduating soon, this December. And it is
probably even one of my busiest semesters because I have been
so involved in so many organizations. I am senator for the
student body government. I am on student congress.
I am on Bison TV. I am on the Bison TV show. These are fun
projects, but I have to say they are great growth experiences
for me. Through them, I have learned how to sign on television
programs, to communicate better, and these are skills that I
will be applying to my future employment opportunities.
I am the Homecoming Bash co-chairperson. Homecoming is next
Saturday. Students, this is a plug for you. You better be
there.
[Laughter.]
But also I am involved in many, many areas of life on
campus. All of these experiences have made me realize that I am
an intelligent, hard-working woman, and I am capable of
achieving anything that I dream. Any company would be lucky to
hire me.
And if it weren't for this experience at Gallaudet
University, if it weren't for this institution, I wouldn't have
that dream. This is the ultimate place for deaf and hard-of-
hearing students to come.
With that, I thank you very much and ask you to believe in
us.
[Applause.]
[The prepared statement of Ms. Hanaumi follows:]
Prepared Statement of Leila Hanaumi
Welcome, Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi, and distinguished
members of the committee! I am honored to be able to testify today on
how Gallaudet University provides the resources and opportunities for
deaf and hard-of-hearing students' future employment. Without this
university, I don't know where I'd be today, and I know many of my
colleagues could say the same. Thank you for being here and continuing
the fight to promote the rights of people with disabilities. Your
investment and support mean a tremendous amount to the deaf community.
Gallaudet University provides a unique experience for deaf people
like me. This university has high expectations for its students and
opportunities are always appearing for us. We have a wonderful resource
available right here on campus: Career Center. The advisors there are
always notifying us of internship and work opportunities in DC and
internationally. They are available to meet with us anytime we need
guidance, and I have worked with Career Center in the past myself. It
was here at Gallaudet that I first heard of the position of reporter
for the Deaflympics, hosted at Taipei, Taiwan in 2009. I would likely
not have heard or applied for the position had I been anywhere else
other than at Gallaudet, and because one of my professors strongly
encouraged me to apply, I got the job.
It turned out to be one of the best experiences of my life. For 3
weeks, I had to work under pressure every single day at Taipei, going
to two sporting events a day and then typing a complete report within a
few hours after the games. The job required me to interview various
people everyday, including coaches, players, and fans from other
countries. I learned to communicate with all kinds of people, using
whatever means necessary. On the flight back to America, I felt like I
had grown to be a much more independent, interactive, and capable
person in such a short time.
It was through Career Center that I was able to afford and complete
my first internship. Career Center will help pay for one international
and one domestic internship per student. I am currently on my second
internship with a former professor of mine. This school is a great
networking base, and I have often received opportunities in many
different areas through the people that I have worked with. She is
starting a new company that develops multimedia products that promotes
bi- and even multilingualism within literacy. I am the Project Manager
and I take care of various tasks, such as creating a Press Kit and
organizing a retreat. It has been a wonderful experience to be able to
witness and be a part of building a company from scratch.
Also, there are Career Fairs on campus several times a year.
Employers from different companies come with their booths to meet
students and potential employees. This has proven to be successful, as
one of my friends got an internship with Volkswagen by talking to a
representative at the Fair. Volkswagen and Gallaudet had an agreement
to have two students work at Volkswagen as a part of ``giving back to
the local community'' plan. My friend was one of the students that got
the internship, and Gallaudet ensured that he would have a positive
work experience by providing interpreters when needed.
I have another friend who is also a Gallaudet alumni success story.
He landed an internship with Central Information of Technology under
National Institute of Technology through the Work Recruitment Program
that Gallaudet provides. That internship turned into a full-time job,
and he has been working there for nearly a year and half now.
I also need to recognize the support I receive from Vocal
Rehabilitation. I was fortunate to go to California School for the
Deaf, Fremont, where there was a VR office on campus. High school
students could simply walk to the next building to meet with their VR
counselor, and that's what I did my senior year. VR is paying for my
undergraduate tuition, which also includes books and supplies. I don't
know how else I would have been able to afford coming here.
Gallaudet is considered a Mecca for deaf people all over the world.
Here, we receive equal communication access, which allows us to enhance
our university experience by being able to have direct communication
anywhere on campus with anyone. However, we do have many new signers,
and for those students, Gallaudet provides interpreters, Real Time
Captioning in classrooms, and the option to have a note taker. This
greatly helps new signer students to transit to an all-signing
community.
The technology that we have nowadays truly does contribute to equal
access for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Not only does it help new
signers adapt into a signing environment, it does the opposite as well.
I am able to make calls from everyday purposes to professional ones
through Video Relay Services. That technology has advanced to the point
I can be doing my homework on my laptop with the Internet on one side
of the screen while on hold with a video call on another side of the
screen. This kind of access helps me be a more independent individual,
capable of multitasking and depending on myself to do all kinds of
business.
As the ultimate center for deaf people, students often blossom
throughout their years at Gallaudet. I can vouch for that. I have been
given so many opportunities to experience various activities that I
have become such an all-around, multitasking, and capable person. My
experiences here have included: being Fundraising Chairperson for two
different organizations; writing and editing for the school newspaper,
the Buff and Blue, and then getting promoted to Managing Editor and
eventually, Editor-in-Chief; working as Peer Leader for a Freshman Year
Seminar course; acting in the student television production, Bison TV;
becoming Senator for Student Body Government's Student Congress;
becoming a member of my sorority; being the co-chair of this year's
Homecoming Bash; and many more. It has always been a dream of mine to
be an editor of a magazine company, but I honestly never quite believed
that I could do it until now. Witnessing my growth and ability to pull
off difficult responsibilities and tasks has helped me realize that I
am capable of so much more than I thought. Gallaudet has given me the
confidence to pursue my passion in media, which includes the areas of
advertising, journalism, and literature. Because of my experiences
here, I now know what I want to do. I plan on applying to San Diego
State University for graduate school in Mass Communication and Media
Studies. I know that I am an intelligent and hard worker that any
employer would be lucky to have, and I plan on carrying that confidence
with me for the rest of my life.
The Chairman. Wow. Told you we saved the best for last.
That was quite remarkable. Thank you very, very much.
I have some questions, just a couple, three things here.
Members who are here are on the NTID National Advisory Group
and the Gallaudet Board of Trustees, I would like to recognize
them, ask them to stand. And if you will give them your thanks
for their work?
James Macfadden is here. James Macfadden. Claudia Gordon?
Claudia Gordon. And also Andrew Brenneman. Andrew Brenne-
man right here.
Thank you very much for your service. Thank you.
And also, we have Alexa Posny, who is President Obama's
Assistant Secretary for the Office of Special Education and
Rehabilitative Services, is also, I am told, in the audience.
Alexa Posny here.
Thank you for being here.
Well, it is hard to start right here, but I guess the two
of you who are involved in the private sector in business--
every once in a while we run across companies, I have just
heard of two here now, that have really taken the extra steps
necessary to hire people with disabilities.
How can we encourage more companies to hire individuals,
especially as we are here now talking about individuals who are
deaf or hard-of-hearing? Is it internships? Is that the key to
it? Having them come to the college fairs? Just give me an
idea. How do we get more companies to really take that extra
step?
Mr. Ellis.
Mr. Ellis. I think you have to begin with the concept of
evaluating that company's supervisory services to see whether
or not that company is what we might say is ``deaf friendly''
in terms of how they provide service. And if we should bring in
deaf employees, do they have necessary means to make their
workplace accessible?
For example, if you just look at car insurance. It is
changing rapidly, and Sprint is working with a variety of
different industries here to see if they are making cars more
deaf friendly. You know, if you are driving with one of those
GPS screens or some kind of a navigator, it would be great to
have the captioning provided there so that deaf drivers are
able to access that auditory information, and we can then use
cars just like anyone else would.
Should that be available, people would be in line to buy
those cars. Making those products accessible and making sure
that their workplaces are deaf friendly and accessible. That
would be the first step.
Mr. Bravin. I agree with you, Mike. I think it is important
for us to show the company that hiring people with
disabilities, including hard-of-hearing or deaf, that it is a
competitive edge. It is not only doing the right thing or the
right thing to do, employees should compare the marketplace and
consumers.
A good quote from John Kemp, who is now the CEO of
Abilities, a former executive director of USDBLN, said that our
employees should look like our consumers and look like our
suppliers and look like our shareholders. And he said that, and
I think that is very, very true.
Mr. Ellis. I wanted to add as well, just to followup, one
of the challenges is always this issue of cost and the cost of
providing accommodations to businesses so that you can support
accessibility needs for people with disabilities. Encouraging
companies to realize that that cost, let us say, of providing
interpreters or captions is really a great return on investment
when you see the end product.
I mean, you see the wonderful services and work ethic of
deaf and hard-of-hearing people, really you are buying power.
And once people realize that, they are much more willing to
open up their minds and change their attitudes in terms of how
they can provide services and bring in more people who are able
to help them be more productive. Really, it adds buying power
to the company.
The Chairman. I might just add, that one of the things we
see so often is that a company that provides support services
for a person with a disability finds they have a more loyal
worker, more productive worker, people who show up on time, do
their jobs. I just see this and hear this time and time and
time again.
So you are right, Mr. Ellis. The small amount of investment
in making an accommodation gives them a great payback in their
employees. I just see that a lot.
The problem is always then, getting them to take the first
step.
And what I think I am seeing happen out there, where now
some companies are mentoring other companies, smaller companies
that may be their suppliers--they may not own that company, but
that company does some business with them, and they are now
kind of acting as a mentor to them to show them what they can
do. And I hope to see that done more often around the country.
By the way, Ms. Hanaumi, I think there is going to be a
competition here on who becomes the first Senator.
[Laughter.]
But obviously, you are exceptionally bright, very eloquent,
have a lot of poise, and you have a great future. You said that
VR helped you.
Ms. Hanaumi. Thank you.
The Chairman. VR, voc rehab. Voc rehab was helpful here
with tuition and everything here. But now you are going to go
to graduate school. Will they continue to help? Will they
support graduate school or transition to the workforce? Do you
have any idea of this? Because I don't know.
Ms. Hanaumi. Actually, I don't know about other States
because it does vary according to the State. But I can speak at
least for California, and I do know that my VR counselor--and
again, California is a big State. I have friends from
California who may have different experiences and they received
different information from their VR counselors.
But my counselor was very clear with me that if I was
interested in pursuing graduate education that I would be able
to do so, and they said even if I took a year off they would
pay for my graduate education. Now I am not sure about
transitioning after graduate school to work, I am not sure what
kind of support they provide.
But I know that VR does continue to provide support for my
studies. And I think it depends upon your major, and some
majors are not so much supported by VR. So there is variance.
The Chairman. It varies by State, the VR support?
Ms. Hanaumi. That is right. That is correct.
The Chairman. Find out the answer to my question, would
you? What States do that? My question is what States do provide
that ongoing help for graduate education, professional
education beyond a bachelor's degree? I would like to know the
answer to that question.
You mentioned something else about--I just want to focus
just slightly on this--internships. You had an internship. The
two of you talked about internships. For all three of you, are
there any changes--if you could snap your fingers and just make
whatever changes so you could get more young people who are
deaf into internships, what would you do?
From your own experiences, what would make it better,
easier for these young people to get these internships?
Mr. Bravin. If I may look back to my first internship with
Verizon in New York, this was after my first year at Gallaudet.
I was still a kid, so to speak. I was so excited, my new suit
on and everything, the first day of work, and I met with my
boss. I had a hard time communicating with my boss.
Verizon is a wonderful company. There is no question. I
want everyone to understand that. But for that specific office,
it was a new experience for them. They had good intentions, but
no support services in place for people with disabilities.
I think from that experience, what can change--the second
summer actually was a wonderful experience with Verizon. NTID
and Gallaudet had already done this and been proactive in
educating other companies. But prepare students to allow--
especially an internship opportunity, where you only have a
couple of months to just jump right in and I think that would
make a big difference so that the students are prepared when
they get there to face that.
Mr. Ellis. Through many years I have had a variety of
different interns. Some of them actually became full-time
employees at Sprint. That was a great experience.
As I reflect, I think what might I do differently? Perhaps
having more time. I mean, usually we only have 10 weeks as part
of the university's agreement. Ten weeks is simply not
sufficient. It is barely enough time for them to get their feet
wet. You know, they really don't get that full-fledged
experience of what it is like to be in a corporate world.
Maybe an internship that lasted 2 or 3 months? Those sorts
of placements might be better, and maybe work closely with the
university to make that happen.
The Chairman. Longer time.
Mr. Bravin. Yes, just a bit more time.
The Chairman. You had a long-time internship?
Ms. Hanaumi. Right. Exactly. Both of my internships were
with deaf employers. I didn't have a lot that I would want to
change about it, but I do agree with what has been said. Ten
weeks is simply not enough. It is a minimum requirement here.
In my current internship, I have been with the same
employer since May. So that is an option.
Yes, I guess I don't have anything else to say about that
question.
The Chairman. Longer-term internships. OK. Thank you.
I will turn to Senator Enzi.
Senator Enzi. I will start with Ms. Hanaumi. What kind of
challenges do you anticipate that you will have as you begin
classes at San Diego State? What types of accommodations has
San Diego State discussed with you or not discussed with you?
Ms. Hanaumi. Well, I will apply. I have yet to be accepted.
So I can't say that I will start classes there this fall, but
that is my intention. But, yes, I am a bit nervous about this,
I have to say.
Gallaudet is my second institution. My first was a school
for the deaf in the Fremont, and here is my second educational
setting. Accessible communication has just always been
something I have done with my faculty and classmates. Wherever
I end up in graduate school, San Diego or wherever it might be,
being in a hearing classroom with an interpreter will be a new
experience, and I am a bit anxious about that.
Yet at the same time, I know that I have mentally prepared
myself. I have talked to many of my friends who have gone
through that same kind of experience in grad school, and I have
talked with my friends who are at San Diego State University
themselves currently.
They are willing to make accommodations, and they do that
even before you begin classes there, making sure that
interpreters are available. I am very fortunate that San Diego
State has one of the best interpreter referral agencies in the
country. I am very hopeful that I will have a positive
experience.
But at the same time, I am preparing myself for the
challenges that I will face of not being able to participate
fully in the classroom discussions, as I have been able to do
thus far, and maybe get a bit of extra time added to when I get
information. There will be a bit of a delay and maybe not
having that ease of communications with my peers and my
professors as I do now.
But I will deal with it as I go.
Senator Enzi. I bet you will deal with it well. I am very
impressed.
Mr. Ellis and Mr. Bravin, what is the typical career track
for an employee at each of your companies who is deaf or hard-
of-hearing?
Mr. Bravin. The nice thing about IBM, it is a global
company, and we have a long history of hiring individuals with
disability, deaf or hard-of-hearing. My father used to work
with IBM for about 25 years, and he was in software
development, marketing, and engineering. And I am more on the
strategic side.
We have a lot of IT, software development areas, and the
amazing thing is I think we already talked about the innovative
design for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals. However, they
have been integrated. A couple of deaf and hard-of-hearing
employees have worked in our HR portal to allow for individuals
to ask for captioning and accommodations and interpreting
requests through that portal.
Other situational disabilities who are not disabled, but
perhaps have a broken arm, also use that tool. In fact, we are
working with one company in the healthcare industry to sell
that solution. We are presenting that to the marketplace, and
it all started from an internal arena with our own employees
that have disabilities.
Senator Enzi. Mr. Ellis.
Mr. Ellis. From a career track perspective, really the sky
is the limit. We have deaf and hard-of-hearing people who are
working with marketing, sales, product development, legislative
affairs, Government affairs, technologies. I mean, it just runs
the gamut. You name it. There are no barriers in terms of what
employees can do based on their areas of interest and their
background. Support services are available to them.
It is designed as really empowering the individuals who are
employed to design their own career path. It is a very open,
accessible attitude and environment.
Senator Enzi. What types of professional development and
on-the-job training do each of the companies offer to the
employees who are deaf and hard-of-hearing?
Mr. Ellis. Exactly the same kinds of opportunities that a
person who is able to hear would be able to access in terms of
professional development, opportunities to get involved with
management and leadership training. Every employee has what is
called an individualized development plan, and that IDP is
something that gives them the opportunity to sit down with
their supervisors and just talk through what it is that they
want to do, what they want to become, you might say, when they
grow up in the next 5 or 10 years, and work toward a plan to
achieve that goal.
We are very active in terms of the management getting
involved and employees taking responsibilities to enroll in
classes and pursue learning and growth on their own.
Senator Enzi. Ms. Hanaumi, can you tell me a little bit
about--I assume that you have gone to some of these on-campus
career fairs. And so what kind of challenges do you find with
those and what kind of opportunities? How do they work?
Ms. Hanaumi. Well, typically, they have a variety of booths
set up, and it is maybe at the conference center or someplace
like that. And there are booths that provide information, and
employers are stationing these booths, and we always have
someone there providing interpreting services.
Or students are able just to read the material and request
an interpreter to come with them if they have any questions of
the employers. Or they can just take business cards and get in
touch with folks later through email or followup with other
questions they might have.
I mean, of course, the only challenge is going to be being
able to use my own communication directly to the employer and
not have to go through a third party, through an interpreter.
Sometimes that adds a little bit of a delay. Employers may not
have experience working with an interpreter before, and so they
may do things like looking at the interpreter instead of
looking at the student who is asking the question.
It gets a little confusing about who is talking and who is
actually the one generating the conversation. But once we work
that out and interpreters here at Gallaudet are probably some
of the best I have ever seen, and with that, interpreters
really help to make the situation a lot more accessible and
accommodating for us.
It is not too much of a challenge. It is just a little bit
of a different experience.
Senator Enzi. I have got to say all of this has been very
eye-opening. Sometimes we live in a little bit different world.
We don't think about these things. So it is very helpful. And
again, I have some more of a technical nature questions that I
will provide in writing.
You have been tremendously helpful.
The Chairman. Thank you very much.
Is there a question we didn't ask that you said, ``Boy, I
sure hope they ask me this question.'' Anything else that you
would like to have us know before we dismiss you?
Mr. Ellis. I just want to recognize and thank you both for
realizing how important this is and what a wonderful
opportunity it is to see how talented deaf and hard-of-hearing
people in America can be afforded opportunities to be
successful. I hope you can help us open doors.
Mr. Bravin. And working for IBM within the global company,
there are a lot of issues here. And we take for granted--a lot
of countries, India and China, have very little exposure with
deaf and hard-of-hearing employees or are not as fortunate as
we are. We should be a model for other countries as well.
The Chairman. That is very true.
Ms. Hanaumi.
Ms. Hanaumi. I don't want to be repetitive, but I guess for
me the bottom line is, is what is so special about Gallaudet to
me is that our students here have the opportunity to be on
equal playing ground. I mean, we are equal humans. It is not
like we are deaf or disabled people here. We are just humans
here, and that is a great starting point for us.
That helps us really build the foundation we need to go
into the workforce, and I think really that is a great
mentality to take with us.
The Chairman. Thank you all very much again for this very
historic hearing.
This will go down as the first-ever hearing in which every
witness was deaf. Never happened before. And so, I am very
proud of both Senator Enzi and I, both of whom have had
deafness in our family, and this is very important to us.
And I just say for the record, why shouldn't more people
with deafness testify, as well as people with other kinds of
disabilities that we have all over our society, you know? I
hope this sort of sets a kind of a standard for the future in
our hearings.
Not that we always want to come back to Gallaudet. We may
not be able to do that, but you can come down to the Hill and
testify.
I noticed, Dr. Hurwitz, in your written testimony you
mentioned some successful people who have gone on. You
mentioned Greg Hlibok, who graduated in 1989, as the chief of
the Disability Rights Office for the Federal Communications
Commission. That was the young man that led the Deaf President
Now movement.
Mr. Hurwitz. Yes, that is correct.
The Chairman. Oh, he is here? Oh, Greg is here.
Mr. Hlibok. [through interpreter] Hi, Senator Harkin.
Hello.
The Chairman. I knew him when he was a kid.
[Laughter.]
Mr. Hlibok. I am still a kid. I am still young.
The Chairman. I was so proud of him when he led that
movement in 1988?
Mr. Hlibok. That is correct. Yes, 1988.
The Chairman. Wow. It was wonderful. They came down to the
Capitol. They plugged up the traffic.
[Laughter.]
It was just wonderful to see students demanding their
rights. It was an exhilarating moment I know for Gallaudet and
for the young people. But for those of us who had worked a lot
in disability rights and things, it was--and that was before
the ADA. That was before ADA passed.
And quite frankly, I said a lot of times, that kind of gave
us the impetus, a lot of impetus because a lot of the Nation
saw this and began to ask, you are right. Why shouldn't
Gallaudet, the premier school for educating students with
deafness, why shouldn't they have a deaf president?
And it just changed. Everything changed. It was a wonderful
moment in history, and I am delighted to see Greg. I didn't
know he was here. I just read that here. But congratulations on
your new position, too.
Mr. Hlibok. Thank you.
The Chairman. That is quite an accomplishment and did a lot
to change the school here.
I am going to use my final comment as Dr. Hurwitz's. He
didn't give it all. So I am going to give it all.
You said,
``In many ways, today's Gallaudet students possess
greater awareness and confidence in succeeding in the
world of work, as compared to past generations of
students.''
That is true.
``When I stand on the stage in May 2012 performing
what is, indeed, the greatest joy of any university
president, the conferring of degrees, I will be handing
degrees to many undergraduate students who were born
after the passage of the greatest civil rights
legislation for people with disabilities in the history
of our Nation.
``These students have grown up in a world where the
paradigm of having a disability is not an abnormality
to be ashamed of, but a difference to be embraced and
valued. They are what I call `the ADA generation.' This
ADA generation is not reserved exclusively to those who
are considered disabled by others. It is a
generation''--and this is important. ``It is a
generation of all young Americans who share the same
hopes and desires to achieve the American dream.''
I don't think it could ever be said better than that. The
record will stay open for 10 days for any other submissions or
questions.
Before we close, I want to introduce two people. A lot of
times we Senators, we get plaudits and applause for doing
things. But we know that it is the staff who does the work. I
am blessed with two great staff people who do all of my
disability work, Lee Perselay, who is here. Please stand up.
[Applause.]
And Andy Imparato.
[Applause.]
Thank you all very, very much. Thank you again, Gallaudet,
for hosting us here. To all the students, study hard, do well.
We are going to be proud of you.
Thank you. The hearing will stand adjourned.
[Additional material follows.]
ADDITIONAL MATERIAL
Prepared Statement of Maya Ariel
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for taking the
time to talk about how important education is to employment
opportunities for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. It is my
honor to provide written testimony.
I am the only deaf person in my family. I was born hearing but was
deafened by spinal meningitis at 7 months old. I am a student at the
Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) College of Business and was
admitted through the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID).
My major is Business Administration-Management. I strongly believe that
Gallaudet University and RIT/NTID offer a tremendous amount of
resources and support to deaf and hard-of-hearing students that would
not otherwise be available. Both institutions help prepare deaf and
hard-of-hearing students to enter the workplace and pursue their
dreams.
RIT/NTID offers an equal-opportunity learning environment to its
deaf and hard-of-hearing students, providing diverse communication and
study aid so that the deaf and hard-of-hearing population can best take
advantage of the education and college life. The institute offers a lot
of options and resources to prepare you to be a productive member of
society. It's so important to be in an educational environment that
recognizes and addresses our needs so that we can develop our skills
and our goals, and look forward to being productive members of the
workforce and of our society.
I have had so many productive experiences at NTID that I feel will
help me be successful after I graduate. I became extremely involved in
the theatre community at NTID, acting in many plays and working as a
stage crew member and a scene shop employee. I have been involved in
sorority life and also participated in a Habitat for Humanity trip to
South Carolina. I am a resident advisor and work in the NTID admissions
office. I also had the wonderful opportunity of participating in a full
immersion program in Italy for 6 weeks one summer. All these
opportunities and experiences have been made possible because RIT/NTID
offers a supportive, equal-opportunity environment where we, who are
deaf and hard of hearing, can participate in the academic environment
and campus social and work opportunities just as our hearing peers do.
There are no boundaries.
(Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gJcAymTu-CE)
Along with fellow student, Hannah Worek, last spring, I was
involved in the show ``What Would You Do?'' on ABC. The show was set in
a coffee shop, and simulated a situation where a manager denied Hannah
and I the ability to apply for an available job in the shop because we
were deaf. The point of the show was to highlight how members of the
public responded to this discrimination. To my surprise, even though we
were in that shop 6 hours straight, only a few people stood up for us
and told the employer that he was discriminating. The impact that made
on all of us involved in the show was how much people need to be
educated about diversity and discrimination. RIT/NTID teaches us that
it is about our abilities in the workplace, not our disabilities, and
provides us those skills that enable us to enter the workplace as
equals.
Although I was surprised at the lack of support from the public at
the coffee shop, I am not surprised that there is a barrier that stands
between deaf and hard-of-hearing people and gainful employment. It is
really important to the deaf and hard-of-hearing population that there
are schools such as RIT/NTID to attend.
One of the benefits of attending NTID is the NTID Center on
Employment (NCE) that helps with resumes, cover letters, job interviews
and job searches. The two main goals of NCE are to help deaf and hard-
of-hearing RIT/NTID students and graduates with the job search and to
provide employers with well-trained, highly qualified deaf and hard-of-
hearing employees as well as to provide guidance integrating employees
with hearing loss into the workforce. We also have a Workplace
Recruitment Program just like Gallaudet that invites employers to come
to our school to help students obtain either co-ops or full-time jobs.
One of the things I really love about RIT/NTID is that before we
graduate with a bachelor's degree, we are required to have co-ops. This
summer, I was placed in a co-op through the American Association for
People with Disabilities (AAPD) at the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA) in its Agriculture Marketing Services department in Washington,
DC. The USDA wanted to integrate workers who have special needs into
its workforce, but had little experience with co-ops. The first thing
that my boss at USDA asked me was how the Department could accommodate
me so that I might be on equal footing with the other employees and be
successful on the job. What we decided was that, when I had one-on-one
meetings, I did not need an interpreter as long as my boss and my co-
workers have the patience to repeat, or to speak slowly, if I initially
had trouble understanding what was being said. With a group of people,
I definitely needed an interpreter to understand each speaker and to be
as involved as the other people. We also agreed that an interpreter
would be available to me the first few days on the job until I was
introduced to my co-workers and we established comfortable ways to
communicate. This anticipation of, and preparation for, my needs made
my transition into the job smooth. It was good for me and for my co-
workers as well.
As the weeks went by, my co-workers realized that I was just like
them with the exception of my hearing loss. I worked just as
diligently; was interested in the day-to-day workings of the office;
and in them as colleagues. I feel that, by the end of my co-op
experience, my colleagues judged me based on my abilities and not my
disability. We also grew to appreciate one another's differences.
Several of my co-workers became quite interested in sign language, and
I was able to teach an introductory sign language class to interested
colleagues during work one day. I'm sure I could have taught a series
of such classes had time permitted.
The work environment at USDA was also important. There was a
feeling of camaraderie and inclusiveness. We had jobs to do, but it was
important that everyone felt that their contribution was important, and
that their voice could be heard, in whatever form that takes. The
attitude displayed by the USDA as an employer is really necessary for
deaf and hard-of-hearing workers to be successful in the workplace.
I will be experiencing my second co-op this upcoming spring quarter
when I will be working for the Dow Chemical Company in Indiana. I am
currently looking for a full-time job upon graduation. I do not give up
even though we face frustrations, barriers, and communication
challenges.
Regarding Vocational Rehabilitation (VR), the support provided by
States varies. My home State is New Jersey, and due to economic issues,
the support that I receive from the VR is declining. Not all deaf and
hard-of-hearing people receive VR support. Some people receive nothing.
From what I understand, this is because of State budget cuts. Of
course, this affects the ability of some deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals to go to college.
Unfortunately, even though I am having a successful experience at
RIT/NTID, I will always face challenges outside of college with the
communication issues and the way our society reacts to people who are
different in some way from the mainstream. I believe that as long as
the Federal Government supports institutions like RIT/NTID and supports
equal opportunity at the workplace, we will have a chance to make an
impact in the workplace and in society. Progress has been made. But we
need the government's continued support to continue to make progress.
If there is one thing I could change in American society, it would
be for people to not look at us differently and greet us the same way
they would any other person. In my opinion, I think it would be a great
opportunity to require all industries and agencies to support a
diversity workshop and to be open to the potential of accommodating
people who have special needs.
The value of education at RIT/NTID, especially with the support of
the Federal Government, is a big plus for deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals. If that is taken away from us, so many able students will
suffer, and so much richness will be lost. There are many talented deaf
and hard-of-hearing people who deserve the opportunity to get involved
in the workforce.
Thank you.
Prepared Statement of Hannah Worek
Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, thank you for the
opportunity to submit this written testimony regarding the topic of
``Leveraging Higher Education to Improve Employment Outcomes for People
who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.''
HISTORY
I am hard of hearing. I grew up mainstreamed and attended school in
the Brighton school district in upstate New York. I was quite fortunate
to have had such a wonderful mother who always fought for my rights,
made possible by the ADA. It was because of her that I was given the
chance to excel in school.
Education is so important, and it is equally important that people
receive equal access to that education as early as possible.
My older deaf sister, Abigail, was mainstreamed on and off
throughout her life. At one point in her mainstreamed education, the
interpreter she started the school year with was not able to finish the
year. The Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) placed a
substitute interpreter with Abigail.
She continuously complained about the quality of the interpreter
and how she felt uncomfortable with the interpreter. The response from
BOCES was to ``stick it out.''
After a while, Abigail had had enough of ``sticking it out'' and
decided she did not want to attend school if the same interpreter was
assigned to her. As much as my mother tried to get her to go to school,
Abigail refused. My mother also tried to reach out to BOCES to get them
to change the interpreter assignment, but they both came to a
standstill.
This lasted for almost a month, and the authorities had to get
involved. Finally, Abigail ended up attending Rochester School for the
Deaf. The interpreter situation was never addressed or resolved.
Though this may have been an extreme case, it is not uncommon for
parents to have to continuously fight for their deaf/hard-of-hearing
children's rights. I recently babysat a deaf girl who was mainstreamed,
but expressed interest in attending Rochester School for the Deaf. Her
parents had to go through an arduous petitioning process during the
spring and summer just so she could switch schools for the next school
year.
BACKGROUND
Growing up mainstreamed, I never quite felt like I fit in
completely with my peers. I cannot really complain though; I received
one of the best educations possible. I received equal access to this
education because I had qualified interpreters and note takers present
in all of my classes.
Another huge factor was that I wore hearing aids to school.
Fortunately, I had one of the best hearing aids available at the time.
I needed two, and the hearing aids were between $1,000 and $2,000 each.
My parents had to pay this expense out of their own pockets; their
insurance would not cover the hearing aids. Ironically, the same
insurance plan would have covered the $30,000-$40,000 expense of
getting a cochlear implant.
I did not and still do not feel comfortable with the idea of
getting a cochlear implant. In terms of cost, it should not cost me
less to get surgery than to get two external devices. My mother wrote a
letter to the insurance company objecting to this, and they agreed to
cover only half the cost of the hearing aids. Any help was better than
no help.
BEING A STUDENT AT THE ROCHESTER INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
I am currently a third-year Criminal Justice student. I have not
regretted a single moment that I have spent here at RIT. It is so nice
to be surrounded by both deaf and hearing people every day. I have the
liberty of making the choice of who I want to surround myself with.
My friends are mostly deaf, but I decided to join a hearing
sorority on campus. The majority of my hearing Sisters either have
taken or will take ASL as a class on campus. RIT makes it so easy for
this collaboration to happen. The impact of NTID at RIT is far-
reaching. Some of my Sisters who graduated have texted me, telling me
about how they have used ASL to communicate with deaf customers in
their new jobs.
Though I am only a third year, I already feel prepared for the
workforce. I did an internship at a real estate company over the past
summer, and I could not think of any way I could have been better
prepared to work there. RIT taught me how to effectively work with
other people on projects, about the importance of deadlines, and so
much more.
I will not dedicate much time to talking about RIT because I think
it is a great investment of the government's money. There is nothing
that I think needs to be changed here at RIT, so I will dedicate my
energy to more pressing issues.
MY EXPERIENCE ON ABC'S TV SHOW ``WHAT WOULD YOU DO?''
Maya Ariel and I appeared on an episode of ABC's ``What Would You
Do?'' as a job applicant in a coffee shop. The manager, who was an
actor, openly discriminated against Maya and me, in the hopes that it
would evoke reactions among customers. We filmed from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m.
as customers were constantly streaming in and out. By my count, only
three people said something to help us.
The episode has also been posted on YouTube. Though the episode has
educated millions, many still remain ignorant. A comment on the YouTube
video said, ``Can we please stop pretending that being deaf isn't a
potential detriment to job performance? Is anyone pretending they'd
hire a deaf person over someone who can hear?'' This is precisely the
attitude that needs to be changed.
A glass ceiling definitely exists for deaf people. According to
Forbes, in 2010, women accounted for only 3 percent of CEOs of the 500
biggest U.S. companies. Though 3 percent is small, 0 percent is even
smaller. None of the 500 CEOs identify themselves as deaf.
It is not that there are no deaf people qualified to be CEOs; it is
the general attitude of the hearing public that deaf people cannot hold
executive positions.
POSTGRADUATE EDUCATION
I am aspiring to go to law school. From what I know, most people in
New York who want to go to graduate school are often not financially
supported by their Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) counselors.
Cost is a huge limitation for me when I decide to apply to law
schools, as it is for most people in general. Unfortunately, this is
not my only limitation. I have talked to numerous deaf people about
attending law school and they have recommended certain schools merely
because those schools will provide adequate support services. This is
not guaranteed at most schools.
It is incredibly frustrating that accessibility may become an issue
in my postgraduate education. I now am limited to schools that will
provide interpreters and note takers without much trouble. It is my
hope that with future policy, there will be no more limitations.
Prepared Statement of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
Dear Chairman Harkin, Ranking Member Enzi, and distinguished
members of the committee, The National Association of the Deaf (NAD)
applauds the committee for hosting the historic hearing on Leveraging
Higher Education to Improve Employment Outcomes for People who are Deaf
or Hard of Hearing where all the panelists were deaf or hard of
hearing. We are very much looking forward to continuing these important
discussions and submit the following comments on this issue.
The NAD wishes to encourage the committee to look at some options
to improve employment opportunities for people who are deaf or hard of
hearing. These suggested options go beyond the realm of higher
education, and focus on overcoming barriers that complicate hiring
chances for this population.
During the hearing, one of the stated statistics was that only 48
percent of people who are deaf and hard of hearing and aged between 18-
64 years have jobs.\1\ It is our belief that the main obstacle
contributing to this terrible statistic is the way employers perceive
and handle the cost of ongoing accommodations. Sign language
interpreters are one form of an ongoing accommodation necessary in some
circumstances for many individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Employers too often worry more about the cost of such ongoing
accommodations than the abilities or skills of deaf and hard-of-hearing
job applicants and employees.
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\1\ Census Bureau's 2010 American Community Survey.
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To move past this misperception among hiring entities, we recommend
new approaches to how such ongoing accommodations are handled, in both
the public and private sectors. A few such approaches are listed here:
1. Encourage more businesses to adopt a Cost Recovery program
similar to IBM's. This program removes the accommodations for employees
with disabilities from the individual manager's budget to ensure that
hiring and promotion decisions are based on skill and talent. In short,
it removes the cost calculation from decisions about hiring people with
disabilities.
2. To lower or remove the cost barrier of providing accommodations,
we encourage Congress to greatly increase the Disabled Access Tax
Credit. Currently, the tax credit is only available for small
businesses with previous tax year revenue of $1,000,000 or less (or 30
or fewer full-time workers.) A small business may only take a tax
credit for 50 percent of their costs beyond the first $250 of expenses,
up to a maximum expenditure of $10,250 (the first $250 does not count.)
We believe that to truly lower or remove the barrier, the tax credit
should be 100 percent and should be greatly expanded to cover much
larger employers. Further, this tax credit will be offset by taxes paid
by an increase in working deaf and hard-of-hearing people and less
reliance on Social Security payments.
3. Government could promote a policy that encourages all employers
to participate in a large centralized fund to provide for all
accommodations. In short, this would allow for costs to be evenly
spread out among all employers. Such a centralized fund could be funded
through some sort of tax on employers, or possibly use money from
Social Security in cases where a beneficiary transfers from disability
benefits to employment.
4. Encourage the Department of Labor's one-stop centers to focus on
helping people with disabilities find employment. Many people with
disabilities do not need rehabilitation but simply need job placement
assistance. The DOL should require these centers to become accessible
and require them to hire Business Service Representatives who are
focused on the hiring of people with disabilities.
5. Amend the Rehabilitation Act to ensure that Vocational
Rehabilitation programs throughout the country not only provide
employment placement services but also are mandated and credited for
employment retention services.
6. The Rehabilitation Act should also be amended to support the
National Employment Team (NET) concept promoted by the Council of State
Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation (CSAVR).
7. Create or fund a center (including but not limited to the NET
proposed in paragraph 6) that is prepared to support employers with new
or developing communication technologies that can support employment
opportunities of individuals who are deaf and hard of hearing.
These preliminary ideas are meant to start the dialogue on ensuring
that people who are deaf and hard of hearing are given a chance to
secure jobs as well as move upwards within their workplace. This
population needs the opportunity to work and not be seen as a burden by
prospective employers, and the current economic model under the
Americans with Disabilities Act does the opposite by making reasonable
accommodations an economic disincentive.
This economic disincentive can be reversed by removing the cost of
ongoing accommodations from the hiring equation and placing it
elsewhere.
Changing the way hiring decisions are made is just as important as
making sure that individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing receive
adequate training from their colleges and universities. It is also
important to note the importance of elementary and secondary education
for students who are deaf and hard of hearing. There are many States
that are currently looking at ways to cut costs in such elementary and
secondary education, particularly with State schools that are often the
only means of direct education available to young deaf and hard-of-
hearing children. Such schools are a critical means of preparing such
young students for a lifetime of quality employment, and these schools
must be preserved.
Sincerely,
Howard A. Rosenblum,
Chief Executive Officer,
National Association of the Deaf.
______
Response to Questions of Senator Enzi by T. Alan Hurwitz
Question 1. I want to ask about low expectations that are too often
established for students with disabilities. They become self-fulfilling
prophecies. What can be done to change this situation and what is
Gallaudet doing to change this situation?
Answer 1. Low expectations are indeed a destructive force in the
education and employment of deaf people. When people are not expected
to succeed, they often do not believe in themselves, and then they do
not achieve all that they could if the best had been required and
expected of them.
One of the ways Gallaudet is addressing this problem of low
expectations is by creating four new pre-programs that will prepare
students to enter demanding professional careers: Pre-law, pre-
medicine, pre-architecture and pre-MBA. These four programs will train
deaf students in these fields, preparing them to go on to higher
education and thrive in those four professions. Lawyers, doctors,
architects and business people are some of the highest achieving and
most demanding professions in the United States. Offering these
programs shows that we believe in students and they can dream and
achieve whatever career they desire. The deaf youth of America will
know that Gallaudet expects them to be highly successful, and that
includes becoming doctors, lawyers, architects and business people. We
will provide them the support, tools, and confidence to achieve.
Furthermore, Gallaudet admission standards have increased. For
example in 2006, 31 percent of students had English levels that
required them to be placed in ``conditional'' status. In 2011, that
number was only 16 percent. Also, in 2006, the average ACT English,
math and reading scores were 14.0, 16.9 and 16.8 respectively. In 2011,
those scores were 17.6, 17.9 and 19.7. Additionally, as Gallaudet has
seen increased standards among those students admitted to the
University, graduation rates have improved, as has persistence.
Increasing our standards has not led to decreasing enrollment. We
believe that if we have high expectations for prospective students,
deaf and hard-of-hearing youth and the schools that serve them will
meet those expectations.
Question 2. Can you please talk about technology and other change
moving from the deaf community into the mainstream?
Answer 2. Many technologies primarily used by the deaf community
have moved into the mainstream and gained larger use and acceptance.
Captioning for television and movies was originally done to grant
access to deaf and hard-of-hearing people, but now can be found in
noisy environments, such as bars and airports, disseminating
information to all watching. Videophone technology used by deaf people
is more reliable than the video technology available to the general
public today, such as internet-based systems like Skype. The
interoperability also allows different types of videophones to call
each other, and they may serve as the example for mainstream video
technology.
Furthermore, real-time text technology, originally used by deaf
people who used TTY's (Teletypewriters) in the latter half of the 20th
century to communicate, while fairly obsolete technology now, could
come back in popularity. This technology allows words to be seen in
real time, as they are written, and the Real-Time Text task force
believes mainstream users will utilize it as well.\1\ Also, volume
control on telephones that was beneficial for hard-of-hearing users is
now available on general phones and visual alert systems, like flashers
for phones, can be purchased in mainstream electronic stores. All of
these are examples where technology that was originally intended for
the deaf community has reached and benefitted a larger audience.
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\1\ From http://www.realtimetext.org/index.php?pagina=27.
Question 3. Everyone needs preparation to take his/her place in the
workforce. Perhaps those who are deaf or hard of hearing need
additional preparation because they have not had the opportunity to
learn about the workplace while growing up. What can be done about this
and what is Gallaudet doing to overcome these problems?
Answer 3. One way that Gallaudet fulfills the need to train our
students about the workforce is through internships. Gallaudet has a
high rate of internship placement--80 percent of graduating seniors
complete at least one internship prior to graduation, a percentage much
higher than the national average of 52 percent. Internships give
students practical, hands on experience in the workforce, allowing them
to acquire the requisite skills for future employment. This also
exposes deaf and hard-of-hearing interns to employers who get to see
firsthand the benefits of hiring individuals who are deaf or hard of
hearing.
Furthermore, students also have the opportunity to work on campus.
Multiple venues, such as the library, archives, on-campus restaurant,
and various academic and administrative departments hire students. This
gives our students the opportunity to work, earn money, and participate
in employment, providing them knowledge and skills about working. Also,
multiple services are offered by the Gallaudet Career Center that
prepares students for their careers. These are discussed in question
#4.
Question 4. What types of on-campus career services does Gallaudet
provide for students?
Answer 4. Gallaudet University has a Career Center that provides a
variety of resources for students to aid them in finding employment.
Some of these are:
Career Consultation: Students can make appointments and
receive assistance with resumes and cover letters, preparation for
internships and jobs, as well as assessments of their interests.
Internship program: Internships provide students with
valuable experience in entering the workforce and preparing them for
employment. Students are allowed the option of receiving academic
credit for these internships.
Career Development Course: This seminar, which is required
for graduation, teaches students how to write resumes, network, and
prepare for interviews.
Internship and Job Fairs: Twice a year, in the fall and
the spring, the Career Center hosts Internship and Job fairs, attended
by approximately 40-50 employers. Students are able to meet and
interact with potential employers, and network at these events.
Career Library: The career library has in its collection
graduate school information, as well as materials for students to use
that will assist them in their job search.
Bison Career Link: This Web site is an online recruitment
and internship/job search site that links to hundreds of employers. It
also provides people looking for jobs access to daily updated listings
of on-campus jobs, internship opportunities, as well as part-time and
full-time employment openings.
On-Campus Recruitment Program: Employers come to Gallaudet
to recruit students for internships, summer jobs, and permanent
employment. They host information sessions, on-campus interviews and
mock interviews.
Workforce Recruitment Program: The Gallaudet Career Center
is involved with the Workforce Recruitment Program. This program is run
by the Office of Disability Employment Policy and the Department of
Defense. It connects Federal and private sector employers with students
who are searching for summer and permanent employment and also keeps a
database that details the qualifications of each student.
Question 5. Has Gallaudet formed partnerships with other
institutions of higher education to assist non-Gallaudet deaf and hard-
of-hearing students with their job searches? Please describe these
arrangements?
Answer 5. Gallaudet has a system of regional centers throughout the
United States, called Gallaudet University Regional Centers. These
centers are provided in partnership with local colleges to assist deaf
people throughout the country. The six regional centers are:
1. Northeast: Northern Essex Community College, Haverhill, MA
2. Southeast: Gallaudet University, Washington, DC
3. Midwest: John A. Logan College, Carterville, IL
4. Southwest: Austin Community College, Austin, TX
5. West: Ohlone College, Fremont, CA
6. Pacific: Kapi'olani Community College, Honolulu, HI
The Gallaudet University Regional Centers provide a variety of
resources to deaf people throughout the United States. They have
extension courses, for deaf and hard-of-hearing people and their
families, as well as professionals who work with deaf people. They also
offer training workshops, which discuss literacy, family involvement
and the transition from school to postsecondary education and
employment, as well as other topics. These centers, where Gallaudet
partners with other institutions of higher education, assist deaf
people in a myriad of ways, including with the transition to
employment.
Also, Gallaudet is engaged in the ``Task Force on Health Care
Careers for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community'' in partnership
with the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, the Rochester
General Health System, and the University of Rochester Medical System.
This group, established in June 2010, is described as follows in their
June 2011 interim report.
``The Task Force mission is to provide recommendations that
will increase career opportunities for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing
individuals in health care professions. Such professions
include those positions typically requiring associate degree
level training through those requiring graduate and
professional education in a variety of health care fields
(including medical and pharmacological technologies, clinical
care, research, administrative and IT support). The Task Force
was created in response to a national demand for more skilled
health care professionals, a need to improve the quality of
health care services for underserved citizens who are D/HH, and
an acknowledgment of the significant employment barriers that
exist for qualified D/HH individuals in the health care
industry. The Task Force also supports and furthers current
Department of Labor goals that focus on increasing employment
and career advancement opportunities for all workers and
professionals with disabilities.'' \2\
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\2\ ``Building Pathways to Health Care Careers for the Deaf and
Hard of Hearing Community,'' unpublished Interim Report, Short-Term
Recommendations, Task Force on Health Care Careers for the Deaf and
Hard-of-Hearing Community, June 2011.
This task force is an additional way Gallaudet is teaming up with
other institutions in order to improve employment outcomes for those
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
who are deaf or hard of hearing.
Question 6. What challenges do you still encounter in your efforts
to place Gallaudet students in the workforce?
Answer 6. One of the primary challenges faced as Gallaudet strives
to place students in the workforce is a lack of understanding of the
abilities of deaf people by employers. Negative stereotypes are held
about the capabilities of our students, and this hinders our ability to
place them in positions. Better education of employers is needed to
show that our students are capable, competent workers. This is one of
the added benefits of our high placement of students in internships. In
addition to teaching students the necessary skills to thrive in their
careers, it also shows employers what deaf people can achieve.
Furthermore, another barrier to placement of our students is the
cost and/or perceived cost of interpreting services and other
accommodations. Employers may be wary of the added costs, and thus
hesitate to hire a deaf person. They may also have erroneous ideas
about interpreters and what that entails, and that hinders their
willingness to try hiring a deaf person.
Responses to Questions of Senator Enzi by Gerard J. Buckley, Ph.D.
Question 1. It is my understanding that NTID has conducted research
to measure your graduates' participation in programs such as
Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability
Insurance (SSDI). Would you please discuss the findings of these
studies?
Answer 1. In the late 1970s, it became increasingly clear to NTID
that self-
reported questionnaires completed by graduates were inadequate for
assessing the impact of an NTID education on employment outcomes. As a
result, we forged institutional partnerships over time with the
Internal Revenue Service, the Social Security Administration, and
disability employment and public policy experts at the School of
Ecology at Cornell University. NTID has developed not only memoranda of
agreement with these Federal agencies, but also data-sharing agreements
that ensure complete confidentiality of exchanged information. The
resulting program of research generated and supported by these
partnerships and agreements is described as ``unique throughout higher
education and rehabilitation services'' by Dr. Richard Burkhauser, who
is an internationally recognized public policy expert at Cornell
University.
By providing the social security numbers (serving as individually
unique identifiers) of its graduates to appropriate Federal agencies,
NTID has obtained aggregate statistics on yearly earnings, employment
participation, and participation in Federal assistance programs such as
Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and Social Security Disability
Insurance (SSDI). Analyses of these aggregate data have demonstrated
the return on Federal investment in students who attend RIT/NTID. For
example, deaf and hard-of-hearing bachelor degree graduates return to
the Federal treasury an average of $6,632 per year in Federal taxes
during their first 25 years of employment. This annual figure exceeds,
by $2,063, the annuitized amount of $4,569 required to pay back the
Federal investment for their education (Clarcq, J.R. & Walter, G.G.,
1998; Schley et al, 2011).
Additionally, research conducted in 2006 compared a group of NTID
deaf and hard-of-hearing graduates with three other groups: those
students who were denied admission, those who were accepted but chose
not to attend, and those who enrolled but did not persist to
graduation. In each of these cases, it was clear that graduating as an
NTID-supported student at RIT meant, on average, a significant increase
in earnings. Further observations include the decreased dependency on
Federal assistance programs such as SSI and SSDI for those individuals
who graduate from RIT/NTID, as compared to those who do not. By age 50,
1 percent of graduates collected SSI, while, on average, 19 percent of
individuals who withdrew or have been rejected for admission continue
to participate in the program. This reduction is especially noteworthy
when one considers that 77.6 percent of students were receiving SSI
benefits at age 19. While virtually no one participated in the SSDI
program when they were students, by age 50 about 22 percent of
graduates with a bachelor's and 26.8 percent of grads with an
associate's degree were receiving SSDI benefits. These rates compare
favorably to 34 percent for non-graduates.
In short, deaf and hard-of-hearing graduates from RIT/NTID have
higher employment rates, higher earnings, and a lower draw of Federal
funds than deaf and hard-of-hearing students not graduating from RIT/
NTID. By age 50, deaf and hard-of-hearing bachelor degree graduates
from RIT/NTID earn on average $6,021 more than those with associate
degrees; who in turn earn $3,996 more on average than those who
withdraw; who themselves earn $4,329 more than those who are not
admitted.
Question 2. Given that NTID operates within the Rochester Institute
of Technology, would you discuss how much integration there is between
NTID and the rest of RIT? What types of interactions and commonalities
are there between NTID students and the larger RIT student body?
Answer 2. RIT's total enrollment this fall is 17,652 students,
including NTID's contribution of 1,547 students. All RIT students are
represented by RIT Student Government, whose president for the last 2
years has been Greg Pollock, a former NTID Student Congress President
and deaf student pursuing his bachelor's degree in Professional and
Technical Communication. This year and last year, Greg was the only
student to give a speech at the RIT Convocation for New Students and
Families, which he did in American Sign Language or ASL (with voicing
and captioning provided by NTID Access Services staff). Greg's vice
president for 2 years, Phil Amsler, is a hearing student who signs
fluently, though he learned ASL only after arriving at RIT.
Like Phil, many RIT students become interested in ASL as a result
of NTID. The number of students taking ASL has more than tripled at RIT
over the past 4 years--this year, 2,193 students enrolled in ASL
classes in just the fall, winter and spring quarters. RIT students
organize the No Voice Zone, where they meet regularly (often in late
evening) to teach, laugh and learn about deaf culture. Another example
of the integration of NTID within RIT is the opening of the RIT
American Sign Language and Deaf Culture Community Center last year,
right in the center of campus at RIT's Student Alumni Union.
NTID-supported students can take full advantage of all RIT
resources and programs. For example, one of the students chosen to
participate in RIT's Global Leadership Certificate Program from the 75
who applied is deaf. At the first meeting of that program, a hearing
RIT student from Brazil shared how he joined a primarily deaf and hard-
of-hearing fraternity on campus since ``most of my friends are deaf.''
In addition to diversity programs such as this, NTID students can also
participate in study abroad programs. Maya Ariel, who attended the
Senate HELP hearing on October 11, was able to spend 10 weeks in Italy
on one of RIT's study abroad programs.
NTID provides services that maximize access and success of deaf and
hard-of-hearing students engaged in wellness courses, intercollegiate
athletics, and intramural and recreation programs. In fiscal year 2010,
NTID had 15 student athletes competing in basketball, lacrosse, soccer,
cross-country, track and wrestling. A new feature-length film, The
Hammer, dramatizes the true story of one of RIT/NTID's student
athletes, Matt Hamill. After transferring to RIT/NTID from Purdue
University, Matt went on to graduate from NTID and become a three-time
NCAA Wrestling Division III National Champion, the first deaf wrestler
to win a national collegiate championship.
NTID's Performing Arts department brings together deaf, hard-of-
hearing and hearing students, faculty/staff and members of the
Rochester community as actors, dancers, theater technicians and front-
of-house staff (box office and ushers). Actors who are deaf or hard-of-
hearing perform their lines using ASL, while hearing actors on stage
simultaneously speak the lines. In fiscal year 2010, more than 490
individuals participated in six performances.
Regardless of degree program, deaf and hard-of-hearing students are
able to take advantage of myriad access services designed specifically
for them. In fiscal year 2010, 42 percent of NTID's 1,332 deaf and
hard-of-hearing students were pursuing baccalaureate or graduate
degrees alongside hearing students at RIT. There are faculty tutors,
advisors, notetakers, and captionists, as well as the largest staff of
full-time interpreters of any college in the world. On-site
audiologists provide services related to hearing and hearing aids,
cochlear implants and FM systems. Speech-language pathologists offer a
broad range of speech and language services. NTID also works with each
of RIT's colleges to provide the support needed to implement strategies
for maximizing access to campus services for deaf students.
Question 3. What types of on-campus career services does NTID
provide for students?
Answer 3. Prior to students' cooperative work experiences (usually
off-campus), NTID's Center on Employment (NCE) offers a Job Search
Process course to support student learning about how to organize and
conduct job search activities. In fiscal year 2010, 141 NTID students
enrolled in this course. NCE staff also offer specific sessions on
resumes and career development workshops, with 82 NTID students
participating in such workshops in fiscal year 2010.
Students utilize the extensive NCE Web site and print resources to
research prospective employers, identify appropriate employment
opportunities and obtain information about applying for a job and
working. During the academic year, employment advisors meet with
students at different locations on campus and reach out to students at
different NTID events. NCE advisors also provide job-seeking advice to
students and graduates through e-mail, instant messaging and
videophone. In fiscal year 2010, NCE staff provided more than 3,000
hours of student and graduate employment advising.
Every fall quarter, NCE also hosts its annual job fair. In October
2011, the NTID Job Fair hosted over 40 employers with almost 400
students and alumni participating. During this fair, six employers
participated in a panel discussion, explaining the job search process
from their company's perspective and answering questions from student
attendees.
Also, NTID's counseling services department manages a full-service
Career Resource and Testing Center that provides a number of career
assessment tools and resources, including an interactive, computer-
based career information system that helps students assess their
interests, learning styles and values, and explore a wide range of
career and educational options. Last year, this department provided
more than 11,500 hours of career and personal counseling as well as
academic advising for students.
Question 4. Has NTID formed partnerships with other institutions of
higher education to assist non-NTID deaf and hard-of-hearing students
with their job searches? Please describe these arrangements?
Answer 4. As Gallaudet University President Alan Hurwitz mentioned,
NTID has joined with Gallaudet, the National Center on Deaf Health
Research at the University of Rochester Medical Center, and the
Rochester General Health System to form a Task Force on Health Care
Careers for the Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community. This task force
will address the limited opportunities for qualified deaf and hard-of-
hearing individuals in this country to pursue careers in health care.
Through the unique partnership of these institutions and organizations,
the task force aims to expand opportunities for deaf and hard-of-
hearing individuals within health care professions through increased
accessibility strategies and options, the coordination and development
of educational programs and enabling policy. The task force will issue
its recommendations in March 2012.
Another recent partnership between NTID and other institutions of
higher education to assist non-NTID deaf and hard-of-hearing students
with employment is DeafTEC. The National Science Foundation has awarded
more than $4.45 million over 4 years to RIT/NTID to establish DeafTEC:
Technological Education Center for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students,
an Advanced Technological Education (ATE) National Center of
Excellence. There are approximately 40 ATE centers across the country,
and DeafTEC will be the first ever established to serve individuals who
are deaf or hard of hearing.
DeafTEC will establish a model within targeted regions of the
country--California, Texas and Florida--that will create partnerships
among high schools, community colleges, and industry to improve access
to technological education and employment for deaf and hard-of-hearing
students. The initial regional DeafTEC partners are:
California
California School for the Deaf, Riverside
Pierce College, Woodland Hills
Cisco Systems Inc., San Jose
Solar Turbines Incorporated, San Diego
The Dow Chemical Company, Hayward and La Mirada
Florida
Florida School for the Deaf & the Blind, St. Augustine
St. Petersburg College, St. Petersburg
ConMed Linvatec Corporation, Largo
BioDerm, Inc., North Largo
Bovie Medical Corporation, Clearwater
Texas
Texas School for the Deaf, Austin
Austin Community College, Austin
The Dow Chemical Company, Houston, Bay Port, Texas City, Deer Park/
LaPorte, Freeport and Seadrift
DeafTEC will serve as a resource for high schools and community
colleges across the country that educate deaf and hard-of-hearing
students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM)
related programs and for employers hiring deaf and hard-of-hearing
individuals. Through its comprehensive Web site, DeafTEC will serve as
a clearinghouse for information related to technical education and
technician careers for deaf and hard-of-hearing students, including
career awareness materials, teaching strategies for improving student
access to learning, developmental math and English curricula, and
information for employers to help them provide a more accessible
workplace.
The goal of this national center is to successfully integrate more
deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals into the workplace, especially in
highly skilled technician jobs where deaf and hard-of-hearing workers
are currently underrepresented and underutilized. DeafTEC will provide
them, as well as their teachers, counselors, employers and co-workers
with the resources that will help them succeed, both in the classroom
and on the job.
NTID has also been awarded a $1.6 million 5-year grant from the
National Science Foundation's Research in Disability Education program
to establish a virtual academic community for non-NTID college students
who are deaf or hard of hearing and majoring in the STEM fields.
Cornell University and Camden County (NJ) College will be NTID's
initial partners on the project.
The program is designed to increase graduation rates of deaf and
hard-of-hearing STEM majors in postsecondary education in the long
term. The grant team members will create a model that will provide
remote tutoring and mentoring support and captioning and interpreting
access services, via the cyber infrastructure, for the more than 30,000
deaf and hard-of-hearing students studying in mainstream colleges
across the country. Although being piloted in the Northeast, the
project seeks to implement a model that will be shared throughout the
country.
Question 5. What challenges do you still encounter in your efforts
to place NTID students in the workforce?
Answer 5. NTID has been fortunate to build outstanding and
productive relationships with employers across the country that
understand and value the talents that our graduates bring to the table.
These employers also understand that, just as these students repay the
Federal investment in their education at RIT/NTID, their productivity
also repays employer investment in their accommodations many times
over.
But these are the lucky employers, the ones who are already taking
advantage of a deep talent base of educated deaf and hard-of-hearing
professionals. Despite all the outreach that we and other entities
conduct with employers, and despite the many laws and regulations
mandating equal opportunity in hiring and accessibility in employment,
there continues to be prejudice and ignorance about hiring and working
with deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.
As an example, earlier this year, ABC's television show What Would
You Do? featured NTID students Hannah Worek and Maya Ariel, who both
attended the Senate hearing, acting as job applicants at a coffee shop.
An actor portraying the shop's manager told the young women that they
would not be hired simply because they are deaf. Sadly, in this
instance, only a few individuals spoke out against this discrimination.
What is worse, several customers who identified themselves as HR
professionals advised the manager on how to ``legally'' discriminate in
ways that could not be easily detected or proven. NTID is using the
show as another positive launching pad for providing outreach and
education to human resource professionals and employers.
Another challenge continues to be ensuring that NTID students, like
their hearing counterparts, keep pace with the changing job market and
technical skills needed in the workplace. RIT and NTID work to address
those challenges by creating new academic programs in ``hot job''
categories, using employer feedback to tweak existing academic
programs, and making sure equipment and facilities continue to be
state-of-the-art.
Appropriate academic preparation for college is another challenge
for some deaf and hard-of-hearing students. NTID tries to improve that
preparation through its outreach programs that connect with middle and
high school students and alert them to what they need to do to prepare
for college and career success.
Responses to Questions of Senator Enzi by IBM
Question 1. Besides working with Gallaudet and NTID, what other
work is IBM doing to employ people who are deaf or hard-of-hearing?
Answer 1. IBM has several ways of recruiting deaf or hard-of
hearing candidates.
IBM maintains relationships with many recruiting agencies/
vendors which specialize in diverse candidates, among them the National
Disability Business Council and Getting Hired.
Working with programs like Entry Point, a program
developed between the American Association for the Advancement of
Science (AAAS), IBM and NASA, and IBM's Project View, a diversity
recruitment program offering students the opportunity to explore IBM's
national career options. Project View has been an especially successful
path into IBM for many people with disabilities.
IBM hosts an annual technology camp for deaf and hard-of-
hearing high school students to help build a pipeline of future
scientists and engineers and encourage them to pursue careers in math,
science and engineering.
IBM enlists employees, like Seth Bravin, to help recruit
potential candidates by participating in conferences, forums and
seminars that showcase their careers and work. By making the case for
an inclusive workplace and modeling best practices, other companies are
also encouraged to employ people with disabilities. IBM is proud of its
diverse employment history and our employees take every opportunity to
share our story. For example, Seth has recently presented at the
National Association of the Deaf conference, Hearing Loss Association
of America conference, Deaf & Hard of Hearing in Government conference,
and the Work RERC (Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center on
Workplace Accommodations) Conference.
Question 2. What can be done to encourage more partnerships between
industry and higher education that will promote employment
opportunities for people who are deaf and hard-of-hearing?
Answer 2. We have found the best way for IBM to encourage more
industry partnerships is to share our best practices and our success
stories as well as be a recruitment and hiring model for our suppliers
and partners. In Seth's testimony he discussed this in the section
entitled, A Shared Responsibility: Build the employment candidate
pipeline.
Other ideas for promoting partnerships:
Government using recognition and awards to highlight
companies, practices, or people that are leading the way in hiring.
Promoting the return on investment and making a business
case for hiring people with disabilities. Askearn.org is an excellent
resource for this information, a collaborative project between USBLN
and DOL/ODEP.
College and school boards or advisory committees including
business executives as an important part of their mission.
Emphasizing in government education and research grants
corporate collaboration with higher education on projects--e.g.
intellectual property development.
For example, IBM collaborated with leaders from higher education to
develop the IBM Education Cloud. This cloud computing initiative
provides computing platforms as a service (PaaS), software as a service
(SaaS), advanced analytics, and virtualized desktops featuring open
source technologies. A companion Cloud Academy initiative composed of
partners from education institutions helped shape IBM's Education Cloud
into a robust and productive educational environment. The Education
Cloud is both a platform for daily classroom services and for future
innovations; as such, the services and functions it provides were
developed to be accessible to users of various ages and capabilities.
Question 3. What challenges have you encountered in your efforts to
hire individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing?
Answer 3. We continue to seek qualified candidates ready to step
into the complexities of a global environment, and are eager to hire as
needed and as appropriate. The challenge remains, to work for IBM a
candidate must be strong in a STEM field, with an excellent scholastic
record and skill development. This is true for all our employees.
Candidates with the correct skill set are at times difficult to find.
In Seth's testimony he also highlighted the transportation and
available assistive technology as barriers.
Question 4. Both you and Mr. Ellis have spoken very highly of the
other's efforts to hire individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing.
With this in mind, what types of things are you doing to encourage
other companies to also develop relationships with Gallaudet and NTID,
and to hire individuals who are deaf and hard-of-hearing?
Answer 4. Again, IBM feels that the best way to encourage companies
to hire people with disabilities or to work with academic institutions
is to model our best practices and put IBM professionals in visible
roles. By having deaf and hard-of hearing employees in our key
functions such as research, software development, and technology
services, we are able to leverage their talent and insight to develop
innovative solutions that are unique and differentiated.
In addition, we work with IBM business partners and advocacy
organizations including USBLN, the American Association of People with
Disabilities, and the Hearing Loss Association of America to actively
market and sell accessible workplace solutions. We model a diverse
workforce and provide a roadmap for the successful hiring and
accommodation of individuals with disabilities, including those who are
deaf and hard-of-hearing.
Responses to Questions of Senator Enzi by Michael J. Ellis
Question 1. Besides working with Gallaudet and NTID, what other
work is Sprint doing to employ people who are Deaf or hard of hearing?
Answer 1. Sprint is an Equal Opportunity Employer, which includes
employing individuals with disabilities. We enthusiastically embrace a
diverse and inclusive workforce. We provide a variety of accommodations
throughout the job application process as needed, and prospective
employees may utilize the very same process available to employees
regarding appropriate accommodations.
Sprint is committed to offering products and services that are
accessible for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing. Through this commitment,
we have learned that if these communities know that the people behind
our products and services are also Deaf or hard of hearing, our
offerings are better received. When we're representative of the 53
million customers we serve, we're better at meeting their expectations.
We understand them and know their needs. Common sense and commitment to
quality have become the driving force behind our success. When a
corporation's programs, products and services are conceptualized,
designed, and provided by people with similar disabilities, the
consumer community knows and trusts the output to be exactly what they
need and want.
Sprint Relay employees are actively involved in various national
and State associations for the Deaf and hard of hearing, including the
National Association of the Deaf (NAD), Hearing Loss Association of
America (HLAA), Association of Late Deafened Adults (ALDA) and many
State associations of the Deaf. We also market our accessible products
and services at national conventions, such as the American Association
of Retired People (AARP), Abilities Expo and Deaf Nation regional
conferences. It is through these associations and events that we are
able to show the community and other businesses our commitment to
hiring people with disabilities. We also share job openings with these
associations and other Deaf and hard-of-hearing news Web sites such as
www.deafdigest.net.
Question 2. What can be done to encourage more partnerships between
industry and higher education that will promote employment
opportunities for people who are Deaf and hard of hearing?
Answer 2. Higher education institutions can educate the corporate
community by inviting companies to participate in paid internship
placements, job mentoring and transitional support programs. As part of
these career placement programs, higher education institutions should
also offer consultative and training programs to businesses on how to
provide reasonable accommodation to prospective employees who are Deaf
or hard of hearing. This consultation and training support should help
employers address the types of environmental (visual), communicative
(American Sign Language) and attitudinal barriers (``Deaf people can't
. . . '') that may be present in the workplace.
Higher education programs can also prepare students to become self-
advocates by providing them with knowledge regarding reasonable
accommodations available to them under Title 1 of The Americans with
Disabilities Act.
One of the biggest challenges many businesses have in hiring the
Deaf and hard of hearing is understanding and budgeting for
compensation pertaining to costs related to communication access, i.e.,
American Sign Language interpreters. Without this type of
accommodation, a Deaf applicant may never be considered for a job
opening or, once hired, not be able to participate in certain work-
related activities and programs. While the advent of text- and video-
based technology has certainly made this communication barrier less of
an obstacle, it does not replace the need for translation between
American Sign Language and English.
Question 3. What challenges have you encountered in your efforts to
hire individuals who are Deaf or hard of hearing?
Answer 3. Because Sprint sets such a high value on inclusion and
diversity and the value it brings to making our products and services
best in class, we don't really have any challenges in hiring the Deaf
and hard of hearing at Sprint. Active memberships and leadership roles
in the community help Sprint remain involved and connected with the
very best pool of potential applicants for job openings as they become
available.
However, based on my experience, some recent graduates could
benefit from additional training on how to effectively and continuously
advocate for themselves. Such training and support may determine
whether they succeed in an increasingly competitive workforce.
Specifically, Sprint and most employers are very supportive of
providing applicants with the necessary accommodations to level the
playing field with other applicants; however, students should engage
the employer prior to entering the process, discuss any accommodations
that have proven successful for them in the past and utilize the
accommodation process provided, understanding that each employer is
unique and must evaluate the situation on a case-by-case basis. This
facilitates the employer being prepared for the needs of the applicant
and will improve the student's chances of successfully finding a
position.
Question 4. Both you and Mr. Bravin have spoken very highly of the
other's efforts to hire individuals who are Deaf and hard of hearing.
With this in mind, what types of things are you doing to encourage
other companies to also develop relationships with Gallaudet and NTID,
and to hire individuals who are Deaf and hard of hearing?
Answer 4. Sprint leads by example. Our goal for more than 20 years
has been to offer the latest technology and service to the Deaf and
hard-of-hearing communities. We do business and buy services from
companies that specifically employ the Deaf and hard of hearing, are
owned by the Deaf or hard of hearing, or provide services to those
communities. This investment serves as a catalyst for those businesses
to continue to hire employees who are also Deaf and hard of hearing.
Sprint works with more than 100 businesses and agencies that focus
solely on the Deaf and hard-of-hearing communities. From Deafnation,
Inc. to National Black Deaf Advocates to Deaf Tech News, Sprint has
made a significant investment in the Deaf and hard-of-hearing community
in business spend alone. This support at both the local and national
level underscores our commitment to the Deaf community and inclusion.
Sprint products and services that are available to our customers
include relay services, hearing aid-compatible wireless phones, TTY-
compatible phones, Sprint Video Relay Services, Sprint IP Relay, Sprint
Relay with AIM, CapTel and Web CapTel along with the ability to use
Video Customer Service. Sprint Mobile IP Relay is a free application
that can be downloaded from the Android market onto select Android
devices, and empowers thousands of users in the Deaf and hard-of-
hearing communities and people with speech disabilities to communicate
by phone virtually anywhere and anytime.
Since the Americans with Disabilities Act, many Deaf and hard-of-
hearing citizens have benefitted from Sprint Relay's products and
services to the extent that it helps them apply for jobs and remain
employed. They may use one of our many different telephone relay
service applications to make phone calls, set up interviews, conduct
interviews, and to communicate with others once they are hired. With
these tools and accessible resources, employers really have no excuse
not to hire more Deaf and hard-of-hearing employees. Relay services
removed communication barriers and leveled the playing field in today's
competitive work environment.
Working for Sprint has been a very empowering experience for me.
Through the years I've seen many of my Deaf and hard-of-hearing co-
workers receive promotions, take on additional responsibilities or move
on to other companies also known for providing accessibility and
promoting the employment opportunities for Deaf and hard-of-hearing
citizens. Sprint has a great reputation as a training ground and place
to establish a career because of its commitment to accessibility and
inclusion. I'm proud to say that I'm a Sprint employee.
______
Consortium for Citizens With Disabilities (CCD),
October 21, 2011.
Hon. Tom Harkin, Chairman,
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC 20510.
Hon. Mike Enzi, Ranking Member,
Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee,
U.S. Senate,
Washington, DC 20510.
Dear Senators Harkin and Enzi: On behalf of the Consortium of
Citizens with Disabilities Employment and Training Task Force, we
appreciate your commitment in addressing employment outcomes for people
who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing at the field hearing on October 11,
2011, ``Leveraging Higher Education to Improve the Employment Outcomes
for People Who Are Deaf and Hard of Hearing.'' The Consortium of
Citizens with Disabilities is a coalition of more than 130 national
disability-related organizations working together to advocate for
national public policy that ensures full equality, self-determination,
independence, empowerment, integration and inclusion of children and
adults with disabilities in all aspects of society.
The CCD Employment and Training Task Force believes that meaningful
employment represents one of the best opportunities for people with
disabilities as they work toward becoming productive and independent
members of their community. To that end, we applaud your continued
efforts to address the deplorable state of labor force participation
rate among Americans with disabilities including people who are deaf
and hard of hearing. While the task force strongly supports giving
people with disabilities the widest opportunities to achieve their
highest levels of educational attainment which was the primary focus of
the hearing, we want to remind the committee that many people with
disabilities may instead pursue vocational endeavors in post-secondary
life. Barriers to their success must also be removed.
Our task force believes that employment of individuals with
disabilities requires a comprehensive approach that addresses all
aspects of their lives in order to ensure that every individual
receives appropriate education, training, and transition services in
order to prepare them for the workforce. Such an approach also requires
addressing a wide range of other issues: outreach to and engagement
with employers, service monitoring and quality assurance, engagement of
individuals and families, the availability of benefits counseling that
supports community employment, transportation, and inter-agency
collaboration with public vocational rehabilitation, to name just a
few. Strong transition services from school-to-work, with a clear focus
on community employment are also critical.
All of these things can be achieved through the reauthorization of
the Workforce Investment Act and our task force hopes that the
committee will continue moving forward with legislation this session.
We recently submitted to the House Committee on Education and the
Workforce, the following set of principles for reauthorization which
may also be helpful in your deliberations:
WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT REAUTHORIZATION PRINCIPLES
People with disabilities including people who are deaf and
hard of hearing using the workforce investment system must be thought
of as job seekers first. The workforce investment system should then
respond to their needs from this assumption as it would any job seeker
utilizing the system.
The workforce investment system should be reconstructed
using the principles of universal design to ensure that any job seeker
can access the full array of services available.
Training should be enhanced for workforce investment
system staff to respond to differing levels of customer need.
The workforce investment system should be structured
to access and utilize a variety of approaches and strategies to
infuse disability awareness throughout local service delivery
systems.
This reauthorization should strengthen the workforce
investment systems commitment to physical, technological and
programmatic accessibility.
People with disabilities must be included in any
categories of priority of service and funds should be dedicated to
meeting those needs. Workforce investment funds should prioritize
targeted at-risk groups.
The workforce investment system should approach each job
seeker as an individual and respond to his or her needs accordingly.
It should provide each job seeker with access to
training needed to meet local labor market needs.
It should utilize strategies such as assistive
technology, supported or customized employment, job
restructuring, and flex arrangements that allow job seekers to
maximize opportunities in the local labor market.
It should provide reasonable accommodations when
appropriate.
A dedicated Federal funding stream should be established
to adequately fund all of the infrastructure costs of our Nation's job
training system.
The role of the workforce investment system in youth with
disabilities transitioning from school to work and community life
should be strengthened.
The workforce investment system should strengthen its
coordination with vocational and educational programs for veterans with
disabilities to ensure that wounded warriors access all services and
benefits to which they are entitled.
The workforce investment system must be held accountable
for its services to people with disabilities. This means that:
The performance measurement system should be
redesigned so as to not create disincentives to serving people
with disabilities.
Reporting requirements must be changed to include
data on services to people with disabilities.
State and local system governance plans should
explicitly outline strategies for serving individuals with
disabilities.
Local systems should engage employment service
providers with expertise in serving people with disabilities.
Governance bodies should assure that staff is
appropriately trained to respond to the needs of job seekers
with disabilities.
The employment interests of people with disabilities must
be represented in the workforce investment system's governance
structure.
The Secretary of Labor should ensure that personnel with
expertise in disability policy and programs are embedded in the local
and State system to promote linkages between public and private
agencies and expand employment opportunities for people with
disabilities.
Authorizing and strengthening the Office of Disability
Employment Policy's role in shaping and advancing policy on employment
of people with disabilities.
We hope this document will be useful as you move through the
legislative process and look forward to working with you and the
committee over the coming months to renew and improve the Workforce
Investment Act.
Sincerely,
ACCSES,
Association of Assistive Technology Act Programs.
Easter Seals,
NISH,
National Association of Councils on Developmental
Disabilities,
National Council on Independent Living, and
Paralyzed Veterans of America.
[Whereupon, at 2:56 p.m., the hearing was adjourned.]