Some participants with functional listening problems are described as ‘active’ in their efforts to keep in touch with issues ‘outside’ the meetings.

She always comes and talks to me one-on-one before a meeting, canvassing what the issues are.

She will have talked to other people too. Then after the meeting she will come and discuss anything that she is not clear about.

Yeah, she is really active outside of meetings following up stuff, even though she seems to miss a lot during meetings, like today when she asked about something we had just finished talking about.

(Non-Aboriginal manager chair of the meeting)

Support Wellbeing in the Workplace

In the workplace it is important to support the wellbeing of workers.

Positive feedback

Wellbeing can be achieved by focusing on what people with hearing difficulties can do well. By giving regular positive feedback the employer or supervisor can compensate for the negativity that workers with hearing loss often meet as a matter of course.

Help manage emotional responses

It is important that people with a hearing loss regularly have the opportunity to talk to others who can help them manage their emotional responses to frustrations at work.

Stress management, particularly a quiet time away from the constant talk that usually occupies workplaces is important. So too is considering the occupational strengths of the hard of hearing. These include:

visual learning skills
perseverance
hard work.

Hard of hearing employees who are successful in the workplace generally work harder than others and they persevere despite obstacles.

Attitudes and Judgements

We often judge each other on how well people listen and respond. Workers with hearing loss may be wrongly judged to be a bit dim, remote or inept, especially by people who do not know them well. Aboriginal workers are quick to observe these type of judgements and feel undermined by them.

They often respond by withdrawing from that person which compounds communication problems. The person may even stay away from work or even quit. It is important that employers and supervisors of Aboriginal workers with hearing loss not judge motivation or capacity on the basis of how well they talk or listen.

Video clip about hearing loss

Stephen Torres-Carne works in an agency providing mediation and legal services for Aboriginal people.

In this video clip Steven relates how not being able to hear properly is very stressful and can cause you to withdraw from other people.

Duration: 3.17 minutes
File size: 3.6MB

Click on the video camera icon and a new window will open to play the video. Requires Quicktime or Windows Media Player