A Close-up Look At People Who Matter : Helping Hands to Navigate the Hearing World

“How will you communicate?”

At 44, Ronald Gough is sick of that question. Employers have asked it nearly every time he has applied for a job.

He tells them he can communicate through computers, notes, motions, interpreters. Just because he can’t hear doesn’t mean he can’t contribute, he tells them.

Gough has had to convince many prospective employers that a deaf person could be an asset.

As coordinator of the Deaf Services Program at Goodwill Industries of Southern California, Gough teaches others to do the same.

The Panorama City-based program, set up in September of last year, teaches deaf students general office and computer skills and how to apply for jobs. It also teaches them to fight discrimination.

“If (employers) say, ‘Oh, we can’t hire you because you’re deaf,’ I tell (students) to keep fighting,” Gough said recently through an American Sign Language interpreter.

Gough knows firsthand the struggles deaf people face in a hearing world. He lost his hearing at age 2 during a bout of the mumps.

Workers at a Washington clinic told Gough’s parents their son could learn to speak. So he started out in regular schools. But he struggled.

“I was very frustrated,” he said. “There were a lot of misunderstandings and my grades weren’t very good.”

When Gough was 14, his family moved to Berkeley so he could attend a school for the deaf and learn sign language. After earning an art history degree, Gough realized he wanted to go into counseling, to help deaf people through sign language.

Counseling is more effective through sign language than through an interpreter, said Margaret O’Brien, director of rehabilitation for Goodwill in Southern California.

If a hearing counselor must use an interpreter, “you lose a part of the direct communication,” she said. “You lose that one-on-one.”

Hearing counselors also don’t know the discrimination the deaf sometimes face.

In a recent session with students, Gough signed, “Some people will laugh at a person who is signing. They think it’s funny. What do you do?”

“Ignore it,” one student signed.

“Laugh with them,” said another.

“Make a bad sign,” said one man, prompting smiles from his colleagues.

Gough told students of a friend who went to Europe with two other deaf people. “I don’t remember what country it was, maybe France,” Gough said in sign language.

People began staring at the three deaf tourists signing to each other. Then they started making ridiculous sign gestures, mocking the deaf tourists.

So the deaf trio started mocking back, Gough demonstrated, putting his finger to his chin and popping his jaw as if he was chattering away.

“So they can see how it feels and they can understand,” Gough said.

Stand up for yourself, Gough stresses to students.

“It’s very important for a deaf person to learn to face a hearing person and make sure they understand the deaf culture,” said 26-year-old Billy Widener, from Glendale. “I’ve learned from Ron how to approach it if there’s a problem, how to face it.”

As for Gough, he usually wins his battles. A former wrestler who competed in the World Games for the Deaf in Yugoslavia and Sweden, Gough had to convince wrestling associations he could officiate high school matches.

Years ago, when Gough applied for a job at an ice cream counter, the owner asked how he would communicate with customers.

“Easy,” Gough replied.

He explained that the shop could list flavors on the wall, number them, and post a sign saying “Deaf person on duty.”

“The people would come in and look at that and say, ‘No. 2.’ And I’d look at the board and know what to hand to them,” he said.

Gough was hired on the spot.

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