Being a Deaf Professional

Hi, I’m Amanprit Arnold who joined GLA two years ago in the Infrastructure team through PUBLIC PRACTICE . I'm now in the Regeneration team.

PUBLIC PRACTICE is designed to attract and place private-sector built environment professionals into the public sector, to improve the quality, equality and sustainability of places which I’m passionate about.

I am a woman, Mum, Indian and Deaf, but it is the latter that has provided the most challenges in both my life and career. I was born profoundly deaf, wore hearing aids growing up and got cochlear implanted (CI) when I was 21. I lip-read, sign, speak well and hear through my CI. There is a broad spectrum of hearing and communication levels in the Deaf community.

Normally I wouldn't share my challenges but in sharing the behind-the-scene elements of doing my job and overcoming those hurdles, I hope to help educate, raise awareness and understanding as part of Deaf awareness week.

My Deaf professional journey

The first to #daretoshare at my first job to encourage staff to open up on personal topics.

The first and only Deaf employee at a global organisation.

The first Deaf panellist at industry conferences.

The first Deaf person most people meet in my built environment professional circle.

The first Deaf person of colour Trustee for SignHealth charity, that addresses health inequalities for Deaf people who are twice more likely to experience mental health challenges than others.

I'm sure there are many more firsts to come.

I'm fortunate to know a large network of amazing inspiring Deaf professionals in other sectors who are breaking glass ceilings, some I'm honoured to call friends.

I've gone from trying to fit into the world of work to making it adapt around me instead. This comes with lived experience, increased confidence and the help of my two Deaf Mentors, Toby Burton and Joanna Wootten . Despite me being a highly adaptable and resilient person that 'speaks and copes well', I'm clearer about my needs now. This includes sending colleagues on Deaf Awareness training to avoid the assumption that every Deaf person is like me and to not take my lipreading and communication skills for granted, and the exhaustion that comes with it; onboarding hiring managers through the Access to Work (AtW) government funding process; doing monthly AtW invoices and admin; securing high-demand British Sign Language (BSL) interpreters for large events; and subtly fighting for simple reasonable adjustments - the list goes on! This is all on top of the day-to-day requirements of my job.

Through opportunities in my career, I am an advocate for the Deaf/disabled community - to include them in diversity and inclusion conversations, city design, workplace accessibility, healthcare access, education equity and more. Focus of equality has historically been aimed on issues around race and gender and rightly so, but I would like to also shine a light on the fight for equality that Deaf and disabled people face on a daily basis with the fear that we still have a long, long journey ahead of us to reach true equality.?Statistics say that most of us will become disabled at some point in our lives so let's try and get this inclusive thinking right early on - not as an afterthought!

Despite these home truths and challenges, I wouldn't choose to be hearing any day as I love my Deaf identity, culture, community and language. I have also had some amazing career opportunities that I'm grateful for and supportive bosses and colleagues along the way too. My infrastructure team really embraced the Deaf Awareness training when I first arrived at GLA and it made a such difference instead of me having to repeatedly educate people on an individual basis.

If you spot my face around, do come and say hi or drop a line and I’d be happy to collaborate or answer any curious questions you may have.