“I was looking for a production specialist. Having already hired several disabled people who function well in my company, I decided to contact this service provider to ask if they had anyone who matched the criteria for a production assistant responsible for assembling products by welding them together. This involves assembling and plugging together stainless steel tubes, winding and threading hoses, and welding different metals together. All of this is done by hand, so it is a responsible task that requires practice. This is why we would prefer an employee who intends to stay with us long term.”

“It was Grit they selected for me. Grit was trained as a metal worker and had already been able to gain some professional experience in various areas of metal processing in other companies. I interviewed her, I was impressed by her open and direct manner and she and I saw possibilities from the very first moment. She then followed a short training in our company, to find out whether we both made the right decision. We could see directly that Grit knows how to touch things and that she has experience in this work field. You could see that Grit enjoys her work, she is not shy and approaches other people openly. Grit from her side enjoyed the work during these training days. In the end, she and I had a short evaluation, and we were both positive. For us, it is not easy to find well-trained people and we were glad that it was a good fit from all sides. So, I hired her.”

“From the outset, the other employees noticed that Grit had a strong grasp of the metal sector and could quickly find solutions when things didn’t fit.’ Thanks to her work experience in various companies, she was already familiar with the routine. For her induction, she was trained by one of my more experienced workers. As with other employees, we started with simple tasks. It worked well. Grit understood quickly, so her tasks could be expanded quickly. After a few weeks, she was assigned welding work too.”

“A job coach from the service provider and a sign interpreter were present on her first working days. Together, they spent time introducing her colleagues to the world of deafness. They gave a short explanation of what it means to be deaf and hung up posters with simple sign language signs in the company. Some colleagues were quite interested and learnt some of these signs. This was necessary to make colleagues aware of how to communicate with Grit.”

“One thing we weren’t really aware of was that Grit can lipread very well in German. The local dialect was difficult for her to understand. She also had to familiarise herself with people’s facial expressions to learn how they pronounce words. That is why she writes messages in urgent situations. She has an app on her mobile phone that allows her to type texts in large letters.”

“Grit’s role is no different to that of any of her colleagues. She functions in the same way, and like the others, she asks her colleagues for help if needed. No special adaptations were needed for her. She can work with the machines like any other colleague. In fact, being deaf is an advantage for her, as it is quite noisy in the production hall where she works. She can’t hear it, and her colleagues already use a lot of sign language to communicate with each other, which makes things easier for her.”

“At first, we thought she would need a designated contact person to go to with questions or anything she wanted to talk about. She was assigned one, and it worked well. However, when this colleague left the organisation, however, it seemed unnecessary for her to continue having a special contact person. We decided to skip it and treat her the same as any other colleague. This has worked well ever since. There was only one occasion when she had problems with some new colleagues. Initially, we thought it was because of her deafness, but then we found out that it was simply a clash of personalities. Well, that can happen in any company, and Grit received guidance from her job coach on how to resolve the situation.”

“Her supervisor is genuinely interested in what it’s like to be deaf and carry out work while being deaf.” He enjoys learning from Grit about her experiences and how to communicate and interact with her. One of the simple things her supervisor learned, and now we all know, is that it’s better to tap Grit from the side instead of tapping from behind, as she might be frightened.”

“If Grit needs support, which is rare, she can contact her job coach via Messenger.’ She just needs to send them a message and they will get back to her straight away. I must admit, this was only necessary at the beginning, when she was getting to know her new colleagues. Otherwise, no support was needed.”

“I can also make use of their support. I do this every two years when I apply for a government grant. The applications have to be renewed every two years, and we have to write a workplace report. My service provider reminds me of this deadline and helps me with the application.”

“Grit has been working for us since 2011. She is a cheerful person who brings a lot of fun and joy to my company. Her open personality creates a relaxed and pleasant working atmosphere. Her different approach to communication also makes my employees more open. Grit has become better at lip-reading the local dialect, and employees have become quicker at understanding signs. Some employees have even learned a few words in sign language. It takes new employees and their colleagues a little time to understand each other. However, they are encouraged to use the app to write things down initially. In addition, every new employee is informed briefly that Grit is deaf and communicates through sign language or text.”

‘For us, hiring someone with a disability is something we regularly do. We currently employ five people with disabilities. We have experienced first-hand how it works out and the valuable support we receive from our service provider. We now know that it’s worth looking beyond the ‘normal job market’ to find suitable employees.”