MEN@WORK:

Roger: what was once high-tech is now mainstream

Roger Brown, who is deaf, explains how a few adjustments at work means he is every bit as effective an IT technician as his hearing colleagues.

I'm deaf and British Sign Language is my preferred means of communication. But with my hearing aid and lip-reading, I can communicate pretty well one-on-one provided I can see the person's face and lips clearly.

As a computer technician with a company that provides on-site computer repair, service and set-up, I'm out in the field a fair bit of my day and in frequent contact with the office regarding customer needs. On the face of it the fact that I can't use a basic telephone or mobile may look like a problem to a technophobic employer but as technology advances what were once alternatives are now mainstream.

My hand-held device allows me to receive e-mail, voice-to-text messages and faxes from my office and elsewhere. Most of the hearing members of the team use these devices these days too.

From my Vodaphone mobile phone, I can obviously text-message but also use I can use the RNID's Typetalk facility to communicate in real-time with a client if necessary.

I've yet to be in a situation in which one or the other device wasn't suitable. In fact, I'd go as far as to suggest that my technology is far less likely to let me down than most. Why?

Because my work depends on it, my battery is never depleted and I always have the plugs and adaptors I need.

For our timetabled fortnightly meetings at the office, I have a sign-language interpreter but obviously there are lots of ad-hoc meetings and discussions too. For these my line-manager or, if she's not there, another colleague will follow-up with me afterwards one to one and send me an email too.

It's not a problem and even when a system's down and we're in fire-fighting mode, I think it helps everyone to take a deep breath and recap rather than just leaping in. It makes for fewer mistakes and both the boss and our clients are grateful for that.

• This interview was originally part of Doing Work Differently published by Radar. More information at radar.org.uk or order a hard copy of Doing Work Differently from: dwd@radar.org.uk.