Hearing Loss/Deafness Culture Handling Workplace Discrimination Against Deaf and HOH By Jamie Berke facebook Jamie Berke is a deafness and hard of hearing expert. Learn about our editorial process Jamie Berke Fact checked by Fact checked by Ashley Hall on May 20, 2020 linkedin Ashley Hall is a writer and fact checker who has been published in multiple medical journals in the field of surgery. Learn about our editorial process Ashley Hall Updated on May 20, 2020 Print For a deaf or hard of hearing person, sometimes getting a job is only half the battle. The other half of the battle can be dealing with discrimination on the job itself. (It is discrimination only if the treatment is based on something that is protected by law, such as your hearing loss). What are your options for handling this discrimination and improving your chances of keeping your job? Here are some suggestions. Huntstock / Getty Images Options for Handling Discrimination Document, document, document! Be sure to put down the date of discrimination, the time of discrimination, where the discrimination happened, exactly what happened, etc. This documentation will be critical if you need to take legal action.Go to your company or agency's Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) office if the company or agency has one. It is the EEO office's job to assist in situations involving discrimination.Make sure that you know your legal rights. Laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act state what is legally protected.Complain to your company or agency's Human Resources department. Sometimes the HR office can help.File a report with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). The EEOC homepage has a section on filing charges. In addition, there is a page on disability discrimination. Another page with ADA charge statistics table has a row for Hearing Impairment.Contact an appropriate state agency, such as a labor department or vocational rehabilitation department, to see if they can help.If your company or agency has a union, contact the union to see if it can help.Sometimes other people in the organization can help if you can trust them. If you know someone you can safely confide in, preferably someone who is in a position to help you, do it.If the discrimination is bad enough, get a lawyer. Do not wait until you lose your job or the discrimination escalates to a level where you are forced to quit to save your emotional and physical health. Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Sign up for our Health Tip of the Day newsletter, and receive daily tips that will help you live your healthiest life. Sign Up You're in! Thank you, {{form.email}}, for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. What are your concerns? Other Inaccurate Hard to Understand Submit Article Sources Verywell Health uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles. Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. American Civil Liberties Union. Know Your Rights Disability Rights. American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations. AFL-CIO Anti-Discrimination and Anti-Harassment Policy.