44:["$","title",null,{"children":"Hear! Hear! An Accessibility Tale From a Hearing-Impaired Senior Software Engineer | Ante Tomić | Observable"}] 4c:T7ea,### Guidelines to making workplaces in tech accessible according to [Employers Guide by RNID](https://rnid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Employers-Guide.pdf): Here are a few of the best tips, but it is recommended to check the full PDF document for more information. * **Ask, Don't Assume**: Think a hearing aid solves everything? That’s like saying a wheelchair makes stairs obsolete. * **Let Your Face Speak**: Imagine lip-reading is their native language. Don't rob them of it. Turn your face directly when speaking with hearing-impaired person, you are not posing for a magazine. * **Speak to Connect**: If your words are a maze, you're losing them at the first turn. Speak clearly, use normal lip movements, facial expressions, gestures, and get to the point - use plain language to be understandable. * **Show, Don’t Veil**: Covering your mouth while speaking or writing/typing while talking? Might as well put up a "Do Not Enter" sign because hearing-impaired people will struggle to understand you. * **Volume Control**: Yelling is as harmful as whispering like in the library; it's emotional assault. * **Be a Team, Not Just a Group**: If 70% of hearing-impaired employees are stranded islands, teams they are working in are a mirage. * **Growth through Empathy**: Soft skills can be hard-hitting change-makers and can offer unique skills. Work with your employees on growth. * **Silence Isn't Always Golden**: Background noise can be a blaring alarm constantly going off for them. * **Individual Support**: Your one-on-one time should be a sanctuary, not a minefield. Be there as a support for your hearing-impaired employees. * **No Stereotypes**: Abilities aren't defined by employer's or manager's assumption, hearing-impaired people themselves know best what they are capable of. * **Hear Them Out**: Mistaking hearing aids as the ultimate fix is you being part of the problem. You don't know how hearing-impaired employees take things, so talk with them, have empathy and work with them on improvements.4d:T564,* **Enough with the Maze Design**: Navigating your website shouldn’t be an easter egg hunt. Make crucial info as straightforward as tapping your phone's screen. * **Captions Are Non-Negotiable**: Auto-generated captions aren't a token gesture; they're the bare minimum. Anything less and you might as well hang a "No Hearing-Impaired Allowed" sign on your homepage. * **Auto-play is the Enemy**: A video blares out of nowhere, and you've alienated an entire group of users. Keep it silent until commanded otherwise. * **Don’t Mute Your Podcasts**: Make your words available in text, not just through an audio format that ostracizes people like me. * **No Thesaurus Required**: Stick to Plain Language. Everyone deserves to understand your message, no Master's degree needed. * **Kill the Noise**: Audio quality is everyone's problem, but for hearing-impaired folks, it's a deal-breaker. * **Visual Chaos = Mental Chaos**: We depend on visuals. If your design screams, your message is lost in the noise. * **Speak Visually**: Icons and graphs aren’t cute add-ons; they're communication tools. Use them wisely. * **Talk Less, Write More**: The keyboard is mightier than the vocal cord. Chat and email should be your go-to, not your back-up. * **Inclusive Design = Better Design**: Your strategies shouldn’t just "accommodate" us; they should welcome everyone with open arms.4e:T436,* [Hearing Loss simulator](https://bit.ly/hearing-loss-simulator) * "The Hearing-Loss Guide: Useful Information and Advice for Patients and Families" by John M. Burkey * [Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/Hearing-Loss-Guide-Information-Patients-University-ebook/dp/B00U3URK82) * A valuable resource for those navigating the challenges of hearing loss. This guide covers various aspects, from understanding different types of hearing loss to exploring communication strategies, hearing aids, cochlear implants, and emotional well-being. * [Employers Guide (PDF)](https://rnid.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/Employers-Guide.pdf) * By National Hearing Loss Charity (https://rnid.org.uk/) * [Deafness and Hearing Loss Statistics (Forbes)](https://www.forbes.com/health/hearing-aids/deafness-statistics/) * [A very empowering essay about hearing loss written by young **Hind Rasheed** (PDF)](https://www.hearinglikeme.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Hind-Rasheed-essay.pdf) * [A Modern Guide to Hearing Loss (PDF)](https://www.mass.gov/doc/modern-guide-to-hearing-loss/download)4f:[{"id":"5a9f9f8cf3bcfdd7041a6e35b5aa25be8583605ca1c62c01c03312ca1c3dee6218944b79bb285e5a3027c630e20fed8df3182a8eaf6394115ac62c41c4eba4a5","href":"https://static.observableusercontent.com/files/5a9f9f8cf3bcfdd7041a6e35b5aa25be8583605ca1c62c01c03312ca1c3dee6218944b79bb285e5a3027c630e20fed8df3182a8eaf6394115ac62c41c4eba4a5","name":"mark-paton-lvmjREyiVJA-unsplash (1).jpg","type":"image/jpeg","lastModified":1693947871101.173,"size":488376}] 48:{"id":"2044b5c5f67f9adb","slug":"hear-hear-infobip-shift","title":"Hear! Hear! An Accessibility Tale From a Hearing-Impaired Senior Software Engineer","thumbnail":"5186dde4507f08c4c268a9d3d69d66ce09e4623fc6c1e34af7c4ddf3df71111c","access_level":"public","create_time":"$D2023-09-05T20:55:54.228Z","update_time":"$D2023-09-18T05:48:05.007Z","view_time":null,"first_public_time":"$D2023-09-05T20:55:54.228Z","has_unpublished_edits":null,"fork":false,"stars":0,"starred":false,"owner":{"type":"team","id":"fd1b77499a80fc6b","login":"antetmc2","name":"Ante Tomić","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/66378916fe5953d2e78e36623068fb1075bc462dac5db85522df3f106ba545a0","tier":"starter_2024","bio":"","followed_by_you":false,"follows_you":false},"version":268,"publish_version":null,"role":null,"authored":false,"authors":[{"type":"individual","id":"e11770739ce6ad0f","login":"antetmc2","name":"Ante Tomić","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/66378916fe5953d2e78e36623068fb1075bc462dac5db85522df3f106ba545a0","tier":null,"bio":"","followed_by_you":false,"follows_you":false}],"members":[{"type":"individual","id":"e11770739ce6ad0f","login":"antetmc2","name":"Ante Tomić","avatar_url":"https://avatars-next.observableusercontent.com/66378916fe5953d2e78e36623068fb1075bc462dac5db85522df3f106ba545a0","tier":null,"role":"editor"}],"comments":[],"custom_thumbnail":false,"trashed":false,"lapsed":null,"subscribed":null,"forks":0,"collection":null,"type":"notebook","body":{"titling":"auto","title":"Hear! Hear! An Accessibility Tale From a Hearing-Impaired Senior Software Engineer","cells":[{"id":0,"value":"# Hear! Hear! An Accessibility Tale From a Hearing-Impaired Senior Software Engineer","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":80,"value":"

Ante Tomić ~ Senior Software Engineer at Infobip ~ 📢 Sharing Knowledge at Meetups and Conferences 💡

Session info

Conferences:

Infobip Shift (Zadar, Croatia), September 19-19, 2023
WeAreDevelopers World Congress (Berlin, Germany), July 26-28, 2023
\n (Talk delivered virtually, didn't attend in person due to health issues)

Description

If someone is talking to you, you can hear them well, but what about me? Experience the world of a hearing-impaired developer and discover the struggles, triumphs, and tips for inclusivity in this inspirational session. Join a Senior Software Engineer with 50% hearing loss as they share their unique journey and show that disability is no barrier to success. Discover how to make your applications and content accessible to those with hearing loss and learn how to work alongside and support hearing-impaired developers. Don't miss this exciting opportunity to break down barriers and unlock the potential of inclusive development.

Biography

Ante is a Senior Web Infrastructure Software Engineer at Infobip who is passionate about all things Web development. With a love for rubber ducks, JavaScript, React, and optimizing build processes, Ante is always looking for new ways to innovate and improve. When he's not coding, Ante enjoys discovering new music, taking long walks, and capturing the beauty of the world through his hobby of photography and travel blogging. An extrovert at heart, Ante is always eager to share his knowledge and make connections with others. He doesn't let his hearing impairment stop him from achieving his goals and he always puts in a lot of effort. Don't hesitate to say hi and strike up a conversation - he's always happy to chat and share his insights on the latest trends in Web development.

Session materials

","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"html","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":179,"value":"### Main takeaways:","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":181,"value":"* Hearing-impairment is disability people don't know much about (and which you won't hear about a lot). But it is equally important - **it is estimated that by 2050, 2.5 billion people will struggle with hearing loss!**\n* Like with everything else, each person has an **unique** journey. No two people experience hearing loss in exactly the same way.\n* Most hearing-impaired people don't consider their hearing loss a disability. Instead, they turn their \"weakness\" into unique skills and strength.\n* The fact that hearing-impaired people can speak well DOES **NOT** mean that they can hear well, especially in noisy environments.\n * Personally, I am using a method called *decoding* which means that I assemble together parts of the sentence I did understand to clearly understand the conversation. This means that most of the times, **I am guessing what the other person said**.\n* No matter how bad you think you have it, be aware that there is always someone who has it **much worse**.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":230,"value":"$4c","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":255,"value":"### Making (Web) Apps accessible for the hearing-impaired:","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":262,"value":"$4d","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":205,"value":"### Effects of hearing loss on student high education:","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":207,"value":"Students with hearing loss can be categorized into hard-of-hearing and deaf, depending on their communication skills and cultural affiliation. Those who use sign language and identify culturally with the deaf community are considered deaf. Students who have hearing impairment but do not consider themselves part of the deaf community are classified as hard-of-hearing.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":209,"value":"Students with minimal or mild hearing loss or unilateral hearing loss (16-25 dB) may:\n* Miss some consonants,\n* Have some difficulties with auditory language learning,\n* Struggle with hearing at a distance or when there is noise.\n\nBe aware that such students may miss subtle conversational cues, leading others to perceive them as *rude*. Behavior might be misinterpreted as *immaturity* or *inattention* and extra effort required to understand speech may cause fatigue.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":211,"value":"Students with mild hearing loss (26-40 dB) may:\n* Miss quiet speech,\n* Have difficulties with auditory learning,\n* Lag in speech language,\n* Be inattentive.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":214,"value":"Students with moderate hearing loss (41-55 dB) may:\n* Not hear speech at normal levels,\n* Make mistakes in speech,\n* Fall behind in speech,\n* Have learning difficulties due to speech delays,\n* Be inattentive,\n* Need to be at most two meters away to hear a speaker.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":216,"value":"Students with severe hearing impairment (56-70 dB) may:\n* Not hear speech sounds at normal levels,\n* Speak, but their speech may be hard to understand,\n* Experience delays in speech,\n* Struggle with learning due to speech delays,\n* Learn through visual signs or sign language,\n* Ignore verbal communication as they may not know the speaker is speaking.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":218,"value":"Students with profound hearing impairment (71-90 dB and 91+ dB) may:\n* Not hear speech or other sounds,\n* Have difficulties in understanding speech,\n* Produce little or no verbal language,\n* Struggle with learning due to delays in language development,\n* Learn through visual signs or sign language,\n* Ignore verbal communication as they may not know the speaker is speaking.","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":189,"value":"### Recommendations for checking:","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":191,"value":"$4e","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"md","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":59,"value":"\n\n\n\n\n\n","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"html","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"},{"id":5,"value":"","pinned":false,"hidden":false,"mode":"html","author":"$undefined","summary":"$undefined","tool":"$undefined","providerMetadata":"$undefined","attachments":"$undefined","output":"","database":"$undefined"}],"files":"$W4f","stdlib":"1"}} 24:null