good people
I'm the site lead for our ERP deployment, and have to have update meetings with the leads from our business team. On Friday I was scheduled to have one with two guys who are in St Paul on the main HQ campus. The company uses conference calls a lot, but I, of course, struggle at the best of times. And though I've started to understand pretty well in person I'm still not hearing a thing on the phone.
So I did what I always do: told them exactly what I'd be dealing with. I sent a reply to the organizer and said, "I just got a cochlear implant this spring, and I'm not far enough along in my rehab to hear on the phone yet. Do you mind if we do an IM chat instead?"
I thought he would. Most people do, when asked. But I didn't anticipate that he would be EXCITED for me. Turns out that he had a friend who had a CI and he knows the process and, well, he was just incredibly supportive. He re-sent the meeting invitation and said that we wouldn't use audio, just sign in and use the skype chat function. And I think he spoke to the other guy too because they both asked me how it was going once we got chatting.
I've come to expect people to be cooperative. The company expects it, collaboration is the name of the game here, and if anyone didn't accept that some colleagues need what the ADA calls reasonable accomodations, there would be repercussions. But I didn't expect this level of interest, and enthusiasm, and what seemed like real concern for my progress. I have worked with them both for a little while but they're not at my site so I only see them in meetings. It was a nice surprised.
I've had quite a few discussions with people at my location too. They can see the magnet and the processor on my head and they ask how it works. One day this week, one of the production leads and I had quite a discussion - turns out her husband has a BAHA and (she said) it shows up so much more because he's bald!
I don't actually care if my CI is visible, of course. But I do like that people are comfortable talking to me about it. I like helping them understand just what's going on with me, and when I do they're generally interested (okay, yeah, they're sort of self-selected for that or they wouldn't ask) and then when they can see I need a repetition of something, they're glad to do it.
People can actually be pretty cool about this.
So I did what I always do: told them exactly what I'd be dealing with. I sent a reply to the organizer and said, "I just got a cochlear implant this spring, and I'm not far enough along in my rehab to hear on the phone yet. Do you mind if we do an IM chat instead?"
I thought he would. Most people do, when asked. But I didn't anticipate that he would be EXCITED for me. Turns out that he had a friend who had a CI and he knows the process and, well, he was just incredibly supportive. He re-sent the meeting invitation and said that we wouldn't use audio, just sign in and use the skype chat function. And I think he spoke to the other guy too because they both asked me how it was going once we got chatting.
I've come to expect people to be cooperative. The company expects it, collaboration is the name of the game here, and if anyone didn't accept that some colleagues need what the ADA calls reasonable accomodations, there would be repercussions. But I didn't expect this level of interest, and enthusiasm, and what seemed like real concern for my progress. I have worked with them both for a little while but they're not at my site so I only see them in meetings. It was a nice surprised.
I've had quite a few discussions with people at my location too. They can see the magnet and the processor on my head and they ask how it works. One day this week, one of the production leads and I had quite a discussion - turns out her husband has a BAHA and (she said) it shows up so much more because he's bald!
I don't actually care if my CI is visible, of course. But I do like that people are comfortable talking to me about it. I like helping them understand just what's going on with me, and when I do they're generally interested (okay, yeah, they're sort of self-selected for that or they wouldn't ask) and then when they can see I need a repetition of something, they're glad to do it.
People can actually be pretty cool about this.
Comments
Post a Comment