Making it in the Modern Job Market: A Study of Communication among the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Population

Gemstone Team AUDIO (Assessing and Understanding Deaf Individuals' Occupations)

Due to the increasing importance of communication in the professional world, deaf and hard of hearing individuals are being marginalized in the job market through employment opportunities and salary. The purpose of the research study was to investigate the significance of the communication barrier further. The two research questions the team focused on were: (1) Are the communication skills further developed by deaf and hard of hearing students at mainstream universities comparable to those of deaf and hard of hearing students at specialized universities? (2) How does attending a mainstream versus a specialized university prepare a deaf individual to communicate through written and oral communication skills? In the first portion of the study, the team distributed an original online survey to obtain demographic data, as well as a sample of written communication skills. In phase two, the team conducted video-taped interviews. Both written and inter-personal communications were scored using rubrics developed and tested by the team.