How HR departments can support employees with communication disabilities

Communication Disabilities Offer a Challenge to the Workplace
Introduction
Approximately 13% of the US population consists of persons with disabilities (Institute on Disability/UCED, 2019). According to the DSM-V, there are four main types of communication disorders: Language Disorder, Speech Sound Disorder, Fluency Disorder (Stuttering), and Social (Pragmatic) Communication Disorder (Miller, Young, Hutman, Johnson, Schwichtenberg & Ozonoff, 2015). The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (2019) defines communication disability as “impairment in the ability to receive, send, process, and comprehend concepts or verbal, nonverbal and graphic symbol systems” and that such a disability can manifest “in the processes of hearing, language, and/or speech.” In order to comply with regulations regarding the treatment of employees with disabilities, organizations must have Human Resource (HR) departments that are trained to recognize and provide support for employees who suffer from communication disabilities in the workplace. This paper will discuss how organizations can best serve the needs of individuals with communication disabilities by 1) using HR to focus on abilities rather than disabilities, 2) identifying HR responsibilities towards accommodating workers with communication disabilities, 3) noting how HR/organizations can provide supported employment for people with communication disabilities, 4) creating a culture where disabilities are not a stigma, but rather promotes inclusion and diversity, and 5) defining, describing, and explaining the misconceptions that not all people with communication disabilities use sign language, use Braille, read lips, and that people with hearing loss will not hear if the speaker shouts.  By addressing these issues, organizations and their HR departments will be better situated to support workers with communication disabilities.
How Organizations Must Use HR to Focus on Abilities and Recruiting
Focusing on disabilities can cause stigmas to arise among workers—so if an HR department focuses mainly on addressing workers’ disabilities, it can create unease and discomfort in the workplace. It is more effective if the HR department focuses instead on showing workers how to recognize abilities rather than be sidetracked by disabilities. When it comes to individuals with a communication disability, workers might see only that they have a speech disorder and thus might view this person as one to avoid. That is an example of seeing on the disability and not recognizing the abilities of the individual. The worker with the disability may struggle with articulation, fluency, or voice control, but that does not mean the worker is incapable of communicating in other ways—for instance, via electronic exchange (email, text message) or written note. Workers and HR should show that they recognize and can focus on the positive abilities of all workers, especially those with a communication disorder, rather than simply identify the disorder and then make arrangements to go through other channels when it is necessary to interact with that person. It is about respecting the individual and showing the type of empathy that all should receive (Müller, Pouliot Evans, Frasché, Kern & Resti, 2018).
It is also important that organizations focus on how recruiting efforts for workers with communication disabilities can be enhanced. Recruiting for workers with communication disabilities is a consideration that HR must take into consideration because it is the job of HR to grow the talent pool from which candidates for positions in the firm may be selected. HR must grow that pool by any and every means possible, and when they live potential hires out of the pool or do not actively recruit hires who, other than having a communication disability, would by all measures be a great fit with the company, HR handcuffs and limits itself and prevents itself from doing an exceptional job. HR staff must be trained to recognize when a potential hire is suffering from a communication disability and they should be educated to see that disability not as an obstacle the person being a potential hire but merely as a small issue that can easily be addressed and overcome. Whether it is a speech disorder, a language disorder, a hearing disorder or a processing disorder, all that matters is that the candidate have the skills required for the job. A communications disability does not mean the candidate will be unable to function or communicate period. On the contrary, a deaf employee may be the most sensitive and insightful worker in the firm—and instead of listening to what others say he will need to communicate in the written word: that is not and should never be considered a deal breaker by HR.
Thus, a practical approach that HR should take in recruiting individuals that suffer from a communication disability is to be upfront, honest, and open about the issue. Candidates should be made to known that the organization does not discriminate against anyone with a disability and that if a potential candidate is fearful of applying for a job because he or she does not know how his or her communication disability may be viewed within the organization, that person’s fears should swiftly be laid to rest. The HR staff should explain to the hire that there are myriad ways for the firm to deal with communication disabilities and that it is ready and willing to employ those ways, just as it would be ready and willing to improve access to offices for physically handicapped personnel. Potential candidates being recruited should never be made to feel that they may be discriminated against because of a disability, especially not a communication disability. HR should understand this and make sure in their recruitment activities that the firm does not discriminate and accommodates all workers with disabilities, including those with communication disabilities. This will open up the door wider for more talent to feel accepted and welcomed and they will actively seek to be part of the organization, thus increasing the talent pool from which HR will be able to hire.
Accommodating Workers with Communication Disabilities
Thus, the question becomes: how can an organization accommodate workers with communication disabilities? Technology is one of the main ways: there are numerous applications that can be used to assist in interpreting speech to sign language for the deaf, for example. Mimix Sign Language Translator is available from Apple, but there are many others, as the idea to use technology to assist in translating speech to sign language has been around for some time (Alnfiai & Sampali, 2017).
Another option is to employ a communication disability translator in the office full time. This would allow persons with a communication disability to feel comfortable knowing that their words are being understood and are being faithfully translated to those who need to hear the message. Of course, using written communications is always an available option and it would not be difficult for written communications to be established as a norm for workers with communication disabilities if that is their preferred method of communication.
The point is that accommodations are not difficult to achieve for people with communication disabilities. The physical building can be altered so that FWA networks are installed to facilitate connectivity between persons with communication disabilities and other members of the workforce. Anyway to enhance using digital technology can help make communication easier. The more access the individual has to sending instant messages, the easier it will likely be. Considering that so much of interaction today is done by keyboard and a computer or through text messaging, a communication disability that impairs one’s speech or hearing should not even be thought of as an issue. Technology has advanced to such an extent in the digital age that instant messaging can take place between people on opposite sides of the world. It should be absolutely no problem at all for an organization to assemble a network that would accommodate and facilitate a worker with a communications disability.
How HR Can Provide Supported Employment for People with Communication Disabilities
HR can provide supported employment for people with communication disabilities by first establishing the groundwork for support. To attempt to accommodate and support disabled individuals when they arrive is an attempt that is already too late. For a physically disabled person, it would not do to have the organization attempting to install access ramps the day the individual arrives for work. Nor would it do for the organization to attempt to install and implement a culture of electronic messaging on the day the worker with a communication disability arrives for his first day of work. Everyone will be thrown off their routine and they may take out their frustrations on the newly hired disabled worker, which would create unwelcome tension and animosity where there should be none.
The groundwork thus has to be lain ahead of time and the culture of support and accommodation must already be present. Thus, creating the culture of support is the first and most important step. More will be said on that in the next section.
In terms of providing support, however, the practical steps that need to be taken are to have a communication disability specialist/translator employed full-time. This specialist/translator will be tasked with working with employees who would like assistance communicating to other workers or managers because they do not feel comfortable or sense some stigma in the way they communicate. The specialist/translator would be there to facilitate communications.
The next step needed to provide support is to have the technological infrastructure in place so that easy communications using digital technology can be achieved. The communications disabled worker should not be made to feel that special treatment or special changes are being made just for his sake. This can create the feeling of stigma, especially if peers reject these changes. Thus, they should be made before a disabled person is hired. The infrastructure should include the ability to send electronic exchanges from anywhere in the office and a policy for all exchanges to be made using this technology. The rationale would be that it leaves a digital trail so that all communications can be preserved. Efficiency of operations is the main idea and this is how the policy should be explained—not that it is meant to be a support for disabled persons. After all, the idea of the HR is to draw attention to abilities—not to disabilities. Thus, these changes should never be highlighted or justified as being for disabled people because that is a focus on the disability. Rather, the focus should be on the increased efficiency of the workplace as the rationale for the implementation.
With a translator and specialist employed full-time and made available to any and all employees wishing to facilitate their own communications with others, and with a technological infrastructure in place to assist the communications disabled the organization would be prepared to offer supportive employment of any worker with this disability.
Creating the Right Culture
The organization must create a culture where disabilities are not a stigma, but rather a place where inclusivity and diversity can be promoted. Stigma is one of the worst feelings one can experience when one is disabled (Lalvani, 2015). It separates one from one’s peers and leaves in a place of isolation, marginalization and anxiety. It is healthy to want to be part of society and to have social interaction with one’s colleagues. The problem for those suffering from a communication disability, however, is that they are often unable to be part of that society they long to be part of because they lack the tools to fit in. Their speech, their hearing, their articulation—some aspect of communication is lacking, and because of their otherness they are seen as somehow unworthy or unfit to be part of the normal workplace. They are pitied or looked down upon or avoided because they are different and their peers lack the tools to acknowledge and appreciate that difference and to overcome it with empathy, sympathy and charity. That is why developing a culture that promotes inclusivity and respect for diversity is so important: it helps to remind those who do not have a disability that those who do also have other qualities that make them human.
Creating the right culture depends upon training and educating workers on how to think, behave and interact. It is about establishing an environment where there are acceptable social norms and unacceptable behaviors that are not tolerated. It is about creating a workplace environment where the differences are understood and workers know what is okay and what should not be permitted. They not only know how to act but why they should act that way.
Thus, the most important aspect of creating the right culture is the defining of the organization’s core values and principles. These are what will dictate the terms and parameters of the culture. A value statement must be created that explicitly identifies and defines what it means to be inclusive and what it means to respect diversity. Inclusivity must be promoted as a core value by stating that the organization opens its doors to all people of all places of all backgrounds and abilities. The term “disability” should never be mentioned because the aim of inclusiveness is to respect people for their abilities, not for that which they might lack when compared to others. The idea is that there should be no “norm” as such but rather a level playing field where everyone is equal, welcome and can feel that he belongs.
The principles that the organization must promote should foster the spirit of respect and appreciation that goes along with inclusivity and diversity. Understanding should be provided and employees should be able to have time to learn about other peoples, cultures, ways of life, all on company time because the organization should show that it cares about creating cultural competencies among its workers. To establish a culture within the workplace that is truly embracing of other people, it is necessary that education be part of the program.
Training on behaviors, interactions, acceptable modes of discourse and how one should conduct oneself when with other people who are different from oneself—these are all items that should be covered in employing training programs both for new hires and experienced workers. The more training that can be applied, the more skilled workers will become in reflecting the values and ideals the firm seeks to promote. Stigma should always be rooted out by having HR communicate positive messages weekly that show why diversity and inclusivity are helpful and important to the organization. A spirit of mission and a spirit of community where all differences are recognized as being part of the whole that makes the firm work so well and so efficiently must be the main focus of HR when developing this culture.
Misconceptions
There are many misconceptions about people with communication stigmas and these need to be cleared up before the company can make any headway in creating a culture of inclusivity. The first false belief is that all people with communication disabilities use sign language, use Braille, read lips, and that people with hearing loss will not hear if the speaker does not shout.  The reality is that many people with communication disabilities simply suffer from issues like stuttering, or they lack the ability to pronounce phonograms, or they have a dialect that is hard for others to hear. For example, a worker who is hired may be from a country where English is not a popular language. The worker may learn English but he is also likely to have a strong native language that influences and affects his speaking so that others have difficulty understanding him. Or the person could even be American but be from the South and his regional dialect could make it hard for him to be understood clearly. This is one example of a communication disability: the individual speaks differently and cannot fit in with others very well. The American author Flannery O’Connor, who was from Georgia, suffered from this problem: when she went north for work, her accent was so strong no one could understand her.
Another example might be an instance where there is a worker who has a voice disorder. For instance, the person may lack the ability to control his pitch, his tone, his vocal quality or his resonance and duration. This results in moments of awkwardness and discomfort for others and causes the individual to feel ashamed for not being able to moderate his vocal performance. This is another basic example of what it means to have a communication disability. Disability is not always simply a matter of being deaf or needing sign language. It is also simply just a matter of being unable to communicate in “normal” terms.