Roderick Hartage was hired five years ago to work for Darlington School Facility Services, and while some days are more challenging than others, he says he is happy to be in an environment where co-workers are supportive of his disability.
Hartage is one of five of the division’s hearing-impaired employees.
“I love to help people at Darlington, and most of them try to help me too,” he said. “It’s OK if people don’t know how to sign, but I hope more people become interested in learning. I am always glad to show someone how to sign.”
In fact, he taught Operations Manager Norris Allen to do just that.
“The biggest challenge is communication as far as instructions, job duties and changes in the daily routine,” said Allen. “Our administrative assistant, Lisha Cronan, and I have spearheaded an effort to get everybody to learn sign language. She and I know the signs for job-related duties and day-to-day communication, and we’ve also posted the ASL alphabet on the walls throughout the office to encourage others to learn. A few are able to communicate that way, but if all else fails, we can always get our point across by writing on a piece of paper.”
Longtime resident of the Upper School campus Wendell Barnes, a certified rehabilitation counselor for the deaf, said Allen ensures that his employees have full access to communication, including providing interpreters if necessary, and always makes sure all employees receive the same information.
Allen is also looking into purchasing a Video Relay Service (VRS) and/or a Text Telephone (TTY) machine to make communication easier. VRS would enable users who use sign language to communicate via videoconferencing with a video interpreter through the internet. The video interpreter then relays the signed conversation over the phone – in real time – to the hearing caller. By using sign language over the full motion video, this allows the sign language user to fully express in his or her natural language and convey facial expression and cues to ensure nothing gets lost in the translation. TTYs are special devices that allow people who are deaf, hard of hearing or speech-impaired to type and receive messages over the receiver.
“We seriously want to get this going, but we have to depend on the deaf community to put us in contact with these services,” said Allen. “We don’t yet know of all the things out there that can help, so we depend largely on them to convey things that will make their jobs easier.”
In mid-October, Darlington Facilities Services was recognized by the Rome-Floyd Disability Employment Committee as Employer of the Year.
“We are thankful that they have given people with disabilities an opportunity to be employed and be productive citizens in our community,” said Twyla Crump, regional director for vocational rehabilitation, Georgia Department of Labor. “Darlington Facility Services is certainly a wonderful example to other employers that it is possible to hire people with disabilities based on their abilities and strengths.”
Allen accepted the award on behalf of his team. “It was a special moment for me because I hired our first hearing-impaired employee, which was Roderick,” he said. “I’ve encouraged other managers to tap into that market because it is a viable option for employers. For the most part, these employees have been extremely loyal to us because of the difficulty of securing jobs in other work forces. I appreciate the hard work that Roderick, Gwen Hightower, Kenneth Bouldin, Kerry Kines and Daniel Lee do for Darlington School. Sure, it is a challenge at times, but most people just need a chance to be successful.”
Hartage is grateful for that chance. “I like working at Darlington because I like to meet the different people from all over the world,” he said. “When I first came here, I was the only hearing-impaired employee. Now that there are five, I have co-workers who communicate the same way as I do. It makes the day go by much faster because I have others who deal with the same obstacles as me.”
