Deaf Workers in Restaurant, Retail, and Hospitality Sector Employment: Harnessing Research to Promote Advocacy

ABSTRACT

A quarter-century after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA, 1990), workplace accommodation is still a struggle for deaf employees and their managers. Many challenges are the result of communication barriers that can be overcome through much needed—although often absent—advocacy and training. This article highlights the literature on the employment of deaf individuals in the United States service industries of food service, retail, and hospitality conducted from 2000 to 2016. Exploring dimensions of both hiring and active workplace accommodation, suggestions are made for how social work advocates can harness information and strengthen their approaches for educating managers and supporting workers.

KEYWORDS:

• Advocacy
• American Sign Language
• deaf
• deaf adults
• disability economics
• employment
• reasonable accommodation
• service sector

Notes

¹In this article, the word deaf refers to individuals who cannot hear or understand speech, and who thus require reasonable accommodation in the workplace. Individuals referenced herein might vary in their cultural identity as it relates to being deaf.