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Declaration of Hearing Aid in employment onboarding documentation

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Edited

Not sure if this was asked in the past.

Query for new employment onboarding documentation:

  1. Would you declare a hearing disability (moderate, not severe hearing loss), even though it is not affecting work performance due to the use of hearing aid?

Your thoughts please.

Thanks.

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One wears a prescription eye glasses to help one see better. Eye issues, which prompts one to wear eye glasses, are not normally declared as a disability.

Can hearing loss, which prompts one to use hearing aid, on the the same category as the above?

I wouldn’t volunteer the information.

But if asked specifically, I would disclose the aided hearing loss.

I would have no issue declaring hearing aids in onboarding documentation. You’ve already been hired. And having the loss documented might make it easier if you ever need a “reasonable accommodation” in the future to perform the job, such as a telephone with a headset volume control.

The company might even benefit by being able to declare having a disabled employee on any EEOC forms they have to file, presuming it is employment with a US company.

I’m unclear what they are asking. It sort of sounds like a hypothetical of If you wore hearing aids, but did well with them, would you declare that as a disability.

I did it in my later years working (retired now). I had to deal with classified information in a SCIF and had to leave both my phone and hearing aids outside as they were transmitters. I wanted to ensure I got a seat close enough to hear the principals and to put down a marker that I should not be excluded because of hearing issues.

When I was interviewing for my last job, I declared my hearing loss and the level of hearing loss and the fact that I wore aids and would need advanced hearing devices to work with the in house phone system. My interview went great and I got the job, and was asked at the time of my job offer just what I would require to be able to use the phones. The best work around came from being able to actually use my computer, which was a laptop as my phone. The company even provided a caption software to ensure I was hearing correctly what my customers needed. I was able to preform my job and even advance in the company. I worked until retirement age, I would have liked to worked longer at the time, but I am now so glad that I retired at that time. As I have been able to take on my other dreams that I had put on hold because of working.

For years I didn’t mention it, but as I get closer to retirement, I’m very open. I did many interviews during the pandemic where my interviewers were masked and I was terrified of not understanding them. My husband wisely advised that I address it up front and ask them to please speak loudly and understand if I ask them to repeat. It worked beautifully and most agreed that masks make it super challenging. Now I assume that most people close to my age likely have hearing loss they haven’t admitted to, so I am actually taking better steps to helping me work better. If you have the job, no harm, but if you don’t need accommodations, no need either.

The company phone system must have the capacity to be connected to the internal network so that the calls can be handled by the computers by way of specialized software and the same goes for the captioning. I retired just over 9 years ago so I am sure it is even easier to do now. The system my company had was totally secured and encrypted. And the computers were also highly secure and encrypted.

Very intriguing question here! In all the years I worked, there was never a form that asked if I had to use any kind of device for a disibility. As others mention, no one asks about vision requirements for a job … but hearing is a nuanced thing! There is NO correction as in the vision world. It is strictly EAR + BRAIN.

So I think there is merit in mentioning one’s hearing as it would likely be a factor in good communication no matter what the position?

After I was fit with my first pair of Starkey aids back in the '80s, I told HR that I needed a phone that was compatible with them cuz of the feedback. I totally forget what the solution was, but the HR gal was incredibly understanding and got me the phone I needed so I could do as good a job as possible. :slight_smile:

I totally get that personal health issues are largely a PRIVATE matter, but when it comes to impact on job, communication and performance, it’s probably time to just be up-front! Hope it all works out for ya!

Not all jurisdictions are the same. In the U.K. there are different criteria in relation to ‘ability’; both in terms of employment and healthcare intervention.

For some employers having someone with a significant but well aided loss actually works well, as there’s a fully able bodied employee with an impaired status. There’s a requirement to be offer equal employment rights to all groups in society.

100% Correct @Um_bongo… The DDA, Disability Discrimination Act, came into force on or around 2007 here in the UK, and you would certainly class certain thresholds of hearing impairment in a disability category, and reasonable adjustments need to be made for employment purposes, at interviews an employer cannot ask you about your disability, unless you volunteer that information. Personally, I always told employers about my hearing impairment, I think it is better to be upfront… Cheers Kev :wink:

YES As according to Federal Government American with Disabilities Act being Deaf is a Disability,wearing Eyeglasses is NOT

Yes, which means that you get a good cross section of people on your staff, who are absolutely able to do all sorts of work as long as you you make provision (hearing aids) for the employees to do the job.

On my staff, I have two individuals (from 10) who fit this category.

Yes Stephen, I am sure your hearing impaired staff, very much appreciate you employing them, if only more companies adopted this approach, they are missing out on valuable assets, hearing impaired or indeed any folks with disabilities, seem to try to please slightly more than able bodied individuals, well done you Sir :grin: There is a bit of help out there if you speak to “Access to Work”, they will give out grants, for environmental equipment, so to enhance the hearing impaired workplace, the employer pays so much, but they pay the rest, adaptive phones, loop systems, some Roger devices, every little helps… But, you probably know all this already Stephen? Although, this information may benefit one of the folks reading this post… Cheers Kev :wink:

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