Louise works part-time as a manager of an employment services provider, leading a team of 10 staff in in delivering services that support people in becoming employment ready and finding sustainable employment.

“Over the past few years, I have experienced loss of hearing to the point where it was impacting my ability to carry out my job effectively,” she says.

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Candace works as a recruiter for a regional health authority. Her job involves finding potential applicants online and at in-person events, as well as interviewing applicants.

“I love my job and plan to do it for as long as I can,” she says.

“I am bilaterally hearing impaired. This is a genetic condition that worsens over time and my hearing needs change. If I was not able to hear, I could not do any of my current tasks and would have to give up a job that I love. Not being able to have a meaningful conversation with everyone that I am in touch with would be detrimental to my work.”

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Rommel works in shipping and receiving for a hotel. He has hearing loss, which has made his job quite difficult.

“I could barely hear anything, and I couldn’t even lip read anymore due to people wearing masks. It was very challenging. I had to ask someone to intervene most times,” he shares.

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Caron is self-employed as a counsellor in Victoria, and her job requires her to listen closely to her clients.

“I have lost some of my hearing over the last few years,” she says. “I found that I was missing things that clients said to me. I was embarrassed to keep asking people to repeat themselves. I want to be the best counsellor I can be!”

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Karen works as an intake coordinator for a residential drug and alcohol treatment centre.

“I have hearing loss and was having a hard time hearing on the telephone and in busy environments with background noise,” she shares.

A friend suggested she check out WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for help funding a new pair of hearing aids. WorkBC Assistive Technology Services staff walked her through the application process, and in no time, she was approved.

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Belle works in healthcare. She has hearing loss in both ears, which can make her job difficult.

“I have a lot of interaction with co-workers, visitors and residents, and the surroundings are kind of loud,” she says. “I barely hear what people are telling me, I always asked them to repeat what they said, or sometimes pretend that I heard them.”

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Andrew helps keeps the roads safe in the winter, working in snow removal and trucking salt. Thanks to funding for hearing aids from WorkBC Assistive Technology, Andrew can stay safe on the job.

“Thank you for your assistance and support,” he says. “Without your support for the hearing aids, I may not have been able to continue my career as a Truck Driver due to safety issues and licensing requirements.”

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Gary’s job sees him wearing many hats, acting as project manager, site superintendent, and design engineer. His job involves a lot of communication, meeting with clients to discuss the project, interacting with work crews, before designing the project to be sent off to fabricators to be assembled and installed.

Gary, however, has hearing loss, and needed hearing aids to do his job. His audiologist referred him to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services for funding assistance.

“The people at Assistive Technology Services were awesome. They understood my issue, assisted me in completing forms, and the turnaround time once I completed the forms and submitted was incredible,” he shares. “[They] walked me [through] the application process and [were] extremely patient and understanding.

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Farhad works as a security guard at a shopping centre in the Lower Mainland. He has hearing loss.

“Cons of having hearing loss includes fewer job opportunities due to impaired communication, social withdrawal due to reduced access to services, and difficulties communicating with others,” he shares.

Referred by his hearing practitioner, he applied to WorkBC Assistive Technology Services. WorkBC Assistive Technology Services helped him purchase the new set of hearing aids he needed for work by covering most of the cost.

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Kim is a computer programmer and math tutor. In addition to coding, her job as a programmer involves a lot of meetings with co-workers to design and debug software, while as a tutor, she works one-on-one with students in-person and over Zoom. However, her hearing loss was beginning to make many of these tasks difficult.

“I’ve slowly been going deaf in both my ears due to bone calcification. It’s gotten to the point that I cannot raise the volume on my speakers enough to hear people online,” she explains. “When in person, I am constantly having to ask students and co-workers to repeat themselves. I have to work very hard to catch what people are saying, which distracts me from my actual work.”

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