

Ask HN: Deaf wannabe entrepreneur faces networking issues. How to work with it? - Joakal

I'm almost completely deaf and it severely inhibits my ability to meet groups of people to the point that I avoid groups. Despite this, I'm still willing meet people or at least understand the transition process of making ideas reality.<p>Is anyone deaf or met one that is deaf as well? How deaf are you? What was the experience like? As in, were you able to understand in groups? And also able to pitch ideas well? How do you handle using phones/teleconferences?<p>Ask any question of me if you want. I don't mind any questions.<p>edit: guess html not enabled, strange '&#60;p&#62;'
======
cd34
I had an employee for four years that was deaf. Deafness came for him at an
early age due to a very advanced infection - I don't recall, but, perhaps
Spinal Meningitis. Possibly able to get the cochlear implant, but, doctors
gave it a very low chance for success. It was thought he would never walk, he
never went to a special school. He could read lips well and could verbalize
some things.

As an employer, it wasn't too bad. He telecommuted, so, most conversations
were over ICQ. However, at times dealing through Florida Relay was
troublesome. He did go to Linux and PHP user groups from time to time, but,
mostly to meet people for contact later. He was a T9 SMS rocket. At times,
communicating very complex thoughts when we were face to face ended up with me
typing in a terminal window or writing on a legal pad. We didn't meet face to
face frequently, and I did learn some ASL - only to find out that he didn't
know ASL. He got into his late 30s-early 40s without ever using ASL and it
didn't seem to bother him.

Interviewing him face to face was a little difficult, but, I brought pen and
paper as I had dealt with deaf clients in the past while consulting. I had a
prepared offer letter with me - just needed to fill in the amount.

We communicated quite a bit over ICQ about non work-related issues and he
never really seemed to want to change much. He just wanted to work in a small
office or out of his home, collect a paycheck, play xbox/ps3 and that was
that.

So, the fact that you want to do something puts you a step ahead in the game.
Many people, deaf or not, don't like groups. In fact, I would bet a large
proportion of the readers here resist groups except with very like-minded
people. I think ambition outweighs shyness. The desire to succeed will push
you to do things that you might feel are initially uncomfortable, but, after a
while, you'll adapt.

To make an idea a reality, it should be no different between us. You need to
design your MVP (Minimum Viable Product), potentially code it, get people
interested and using it. On the Internet, most communication with clients
isn't verbal. Working in a pairs environment or finding a partner that will
work with you might be a little more challenging, but, I would suspect you
should really have that much difficulty. I know plenty of people that
intensely dislike talking on the phone and prefer instant messaging, email,
IRC, etc.

At the point it comes time to pitch your idea to get further funding, you will
probably hit a roadblock that will be much more difficult. With Florida Relay,
it was very difficult to detect passion - and by passion I mean the belief in
an idea, the excitement of discovering a new solution, etc. Investors use
verbal cues to detect how well you understand an idea or how well you'll be
able to adapt to change or how much you believe in the idea. A translator just
might not convey that as well which means your idea probably needs to be more
technically sophisticated, documented, or thought out.

I don't really think you'll run into too many issues that any other reader
here isn't going to encounter. Get your idea together, write a skeleton
document, figure out what it takes to get from point A to B, develop an MVP
yourself or with someone else, launch it, figure out where to go from there.

~~~
Joakal
Wow, the early parts sound pretty much like except I eventually decided I
wanted a bigger challenge beyond games and something more realistic and
balanced (sometimes), reality.

I actually liked groups, I really do. You can see me sometimes chatting in
groups online. Unfortunately, due to my deafness, it's keeping me back from
some groups unless there's unlimited time and understanding. I even bombed
some (important!) group interviews because of time constraints.

I'm guessing Florida Relay is the text-relay service? I was so excited to hear
about something like this and when I tried it on two mates, the first thought
it was a prank and immediately hung up. The second kind of knew it was me but
said it was like talking to a cold person. This made me fear that even seeking
employment is difficult since I can't do phone interviews or followup calls
without creeping them out. So I try to emphasise how great I am, just have
some initial difficulties with phones (I dislike how a lot of entry level jobs
in IT require phone use).

I've actually been working on the MVP (prototype) for some time, it's not
quite what I want it to be but I agree it's a good start.

Cheers

~~~
jallmann
> This made me fear that even seeking employment is difficult since I can't do
> phone interviews or followup calls without creeping them out.

When I have a phone interview, I tell them I'm deaf and people are usually
happy to do it over IM.

Text relay is iffy, especially if it's the interviewer's first time using it.
I would never use video relay for a technical interview since the interpreter
won't be familiar with the terminology.

~~~
srean
Phone interviews bother me too. I am pretty sure I come through a little
dimmer because I often ask the question to be repeated. It never occurred to
me to prevent a potential misconception by letting the interviewer know that I
have difficulty in hearing.

------
cmadan
Hi, I'm a deaf wannabe entrepreneur like you. I use hearing aids. I cannot
communicate well i.e. it is impossible for me to assert myself in groups or
even in noisy environments like crowded restaurants with individuals or small
groups of 2-3. I don't know ASL. I struggle with accents too as I was born and
raised in Delhi and moved to USA just one and a half years back for graduate
school. I cannot use a phone (use Relay which can be extremely frustrating for
the non-deaf person on the other side of the line).

I've come to the conclusion that I need a cofounder to pitch my ideas/MVP. It
is a bit painful because I love presenting, I've been told I'm a natural. I
have no problems pitching my idea, I can speak articulately. The problem comes
whenever someone from the audience has a question. I can't hear the question.
The workaround is to have them IM the question to me from their laptops but
that can be as frustrating as Relay as the conversation isn't really very
freeflowing.

I also hate groups. I hate socials and parties where I barely know the people
there, I'm mostly standing in a group unable to follow the conversation and
they end up being really boring. As you can imagine, meetups where I do not
know _anybody_ are much worse. But the bottom line is, you need to adopt a
different strategy. You need to build up contacts and use email/IM to pitch
your idea instead of pitching on the spot. Collect visiting cards/emails.

Also remember being deaf, you have a big social network that you can tap in. I
developed a MVP for delivering public announcements to phones in textual form
(developed a webapp, Android app etc) and through the HLAA (Hearing Loss
Association of Florida) I managed to get a meeting with executives from
Continental Airlines. At the meeting, my professor at graduate school did the
pitching and his pitch was incredible, I just couldn't have done it as well as
he. About 80% of my communication with the professor was via email, I met with
him face-to-face about just 8-10 times in the 7 month period the project was
running (when I had to demo something). All the ideas and progress reports we
did it through email. So it all comes down to finding the right cofounder (my
professor would check his email every 15 minutes and preferred email to phone
and face-to-face meetings with everyone).

~~~
psyklic
I apologize up front for my possible ignorance, but maybe you could use a
service like Twilio so that people could text message you questions. Then have
it notify you via the screen when a new question comes in, so that you can
address it at your convenience? It would take some time to set up, but that
would definitely impress me if I were an interviewer, knowing that you made
your own question&answer system!

~~~
cmadan
I'm probably missing something, but wouldn't an IM client be equally
sufficient? Typing on keyboards is faster than texting but still slower than
talking and requires attendees to bring their laptops.

------
jallmann
I'm profoundly deaf too. My experience is people care less about that and more
about your willingness to get stuff done.

You've already got a good start by just being on HN. That's how I ended up in
my current situation working for a startup.

I've worked for other companies big and small. Nobody really cares that you're
deaf, although I can imagine it'd be difficult when you're trying to get an
elevator pitch across. Haven't had to do that yet. You naturally figure out
methods of communicating with people, especially on a one-one basis, as you
start working with them more. Group situations have always (and probably
always will) suck for me, though.

As for teleconferences, we have video relay here in the US so I've used that.
Probably just as painful for me as everyone else in the conference, though.

It's a good thing that so much is done over IM/email/IRC these days, that
makes things a lot easier for folks like us. Good luck.

------
sarenji
I'm profoundly deaf from birth. In an in-person group conversation,
understanding is impossible with all the verbal back-and-forth. One-on-ones
are _vastly_ easier. People are initially awkward about the new way we have to
communicate (repetition, paper, laptop), but they are always understanding.
Access services help.

I recently was interviewed by a co-founder of a startup for an internship
position. He lives in San Francisco, I'm on the East Coast. We used Skype and
he was very nice, very open to instant messaging. To code, we used an EtherPad
clone. But it's difficult to convey your passion like this, because there are
two inputs: video and text. It's hard to appear passionate visually while
you're typing, so there's a kind of disconnect.

How I handle phones: I ask them if they can text, email, or instant message
instead. Never did teleconferences, but they sound like a nightmare. For in-
person stuff, my college provides me access services for free. I practiced
like hell with approaching people, understanding spoken language with the
cochlear implant (got it three years ago), and speaking accurately, so
conversations are no longer the sweat-inducing terrors they used to be. It
turns out that most people didn't care I was deaf.

Consider a VP (video phone). Acts just like a phone, but a middle-person
interprets both ends of the conversation. Naturally, there is a lag between
translations. Be sure to let them know.

If you have any personal questions don't hesitate to contact me (see profile).
You aren't alone. If you hadn't made this thread, I would have myself when I
make a startup.

------
mmaunder
Networking isn't a prerequisite for being an entrepreneur. Many entrepreneurs
work from wherever they are and enjoy a mobile lifestyle and do all
communication electronically - even networking.

The most effective networking I've done has been via discussion forums like
webmasterworld and via email lists. It's also way more time efficient.

If you are worried that you lack a core skill or lack funding and need to
network to find a co-founder or investor, just be straight with the folks you
are communicating with - tell them you're deaf and you'd rather communicate
via text mediums like IM, email, etc.

If you have a skill set that is core to starting a company, put it to work and
good partners or investors will find you as they see how talented you are.

Learning sign language is not hard, so if you do find a great co-founder and
you need to work in person, you'll probably find they'll put in the effort to
learn ASL. Us geeks enjoy learning new languages.

Best of luck.

~~~
Joakal
The networking issue is because I'm close to finishing a MVP and need funding
to take it further (especially since I'm not good in some aspects). I can only
learn so much.

I am quite straight with people on my disability to the point of giving a very
accurate analogy of my deafness. So I'll keep trying that!

I don't know ASL though. Thanks!

------
cplamper
Hi,

long time lurker here, but now felt compelled to open an account and post.

Your post hits very close to home to me. I'm deaf on my left ear, nearly deaf
on my right ear after being born hard of hearing and having a series of
hearing losses during my childhood and teenage years. I can't phone, can't
understand anything on TV, podcasts etc. but can converse quite well in one-
to-one talks and very small groups of 2-3 people. I don't know any sign
language. I have massive problems in noisy environments or really large
groups. Accents are also difficult. Lip reading and a hearing aid helps.
Luckily I've had amazing parents who made sure that I received a good
education and can speak and write very well. I also like presenting and
speaking in front of large groups. Unfortunately too many deaf people have
really weak spelling and oral speaking skills.

Networking has long been something that I dread and tend to avoid. I am a
young German marketing consultant (freelancing mostly for other consulting
groups and startups) and - as yourself - a wannabe entrepreneur. So networking
is a must. I constantly have to find new clients, new projects, new trends and
markets to tap into. My biggest problem is that phone calls don't work. I ask
for IM or video chats via Skype instead. It's still a massive problem when the
other person doesn't know about your disability yet or when you're dealing
with a conservative client (typically people in larger companies). Phone calls
are an issue which I have not yet fully solved.

Some advice:

* I hate approaching people as the environment is often noisy and it's akward to explain that you're deaf or hard of hearing. When attending conferences or meetups ask for the list of attendees beforehand. Try to set up meetings and plan your pitch. Most people will be understanding and you have a list of people you can connect with. Wear nametags always. Have really minimalistic business cards ready with only your name, your company and your e-mail address and your skype/IM handle. Turn down meetups where you know it will be extremely noisy or where there is background music playing. Ask attendees for personal meetings the evening before or day after instead.

* Get yourself an iPad or another tablet where you can demonstrate your product for other people to see. Have it with you always.

* Obviously: Ask for IM or Skype video chat instead of phone calls. Better yet: Set up your own secured Jabber chat server for technically inclined clients or contacts and if possible a secured chat site, too.

* Have an incredible elevator pitch ready for IM, e-mail etc.

* (I know it sucks) On your website - should you have one - always say you're deaf or hard of hearing. It establishes trust and causes people not to be surprised when you decline phone calls.

* Ask other people to introduce you and if necessary explain that you're deaf/hard of hearing. Use other people, even your parents. Don't be too proud for this but always explain why it is important for you and what you gain by it.

* Create a blog where you demonstrate knowledge of tech, markets etc. This makes it easier to evaluate your skills without contacting you. Same goes for social networking.

* If you have a product, a popular website or a lot of people trying to contact you use a virtual call center which collects and answers questions, contacts and mails/IMs everything to you.

* Be incredibly persistent. It's very easy to get discouraged when getting a bunch of new contacts and each one requests a phone call. I set myself a goal to get ten new contacts per month to a face-to-face meeting or an IM chat and reward myself when hitting the goal.

* The best though would be to work in large companies or in a larger team. Solo freelancing or starting a company yourself without being able to phone is incredible hard if not downright impossible (I tried it myself). Ultimately you need people who handle phone calls for you and who assist you in handling issues with clients. It really takes a lot of weight off your plate. The only reason why I'm doing freelancing is that right now I have stable clients who pay the bill.

Best of luck and feel free to contact me anytime.

------
srean
I am not deaf but have fairly limited hearing on one side, so much so that if
an alarm goes off and I am on my wrong side I wouldnt know.

For interacting with people I have come to realize that I instinctively use
signals form the persons lip movement. I cannot lip read from that signal
alone, but it helps me to disambiguate what one is saying if I can see their
mouth move. A side effect is that if I am not wearing my glasses I will have
difficulty following you.

For one on one I can manage relatively well by situating myself
advantageously. But for groups, interviews and telephone calls it becomes
harder. I also have to know what language you are using. If I guess that
wrong, and even if you are using a language I know, I can hardly make out what
you are saying. This has put me in odd circumstances: someone starts speaking
to me in my native language, when I expect that person to be speaking in
English. In such situations I am usually fairly lost.

~~~
Joakal
Try a vibrator:
[https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Vibrating_ale...](https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Vibrating_alert)
Works for me! Lip reading can only help so much. Try mouthing "Island view" to
people and they definitely misunderstand you.

What's your native language if you don't mind me asking? Learning a second
spoken language is pretty impressive. I could only grasp written languages as
my understanding of spoken languages was pretty difficult.

~~~
srean
Thanks for your suggestion, that should really help. About the second spoken
language, it is not that impressive in India. besides the fact that I lost my
hearing later, and that too on one side. In India a grasp over three languages
is usually the norm, proficiency of course varies. My native language is
Bengali, though I picked up its written form fairly late. Mainly because my
schooling was spread over a number of states and each has its own language.

Another round of thanks for initiating this nice thread, hope it helps you as
much as it helped me.

------
SwellJoe
Networking doesn't have to be face-to-face.

I built my company with a partner who I'd only met in person _once_ before we
started the company. We'd worked together online for seven years, though, and
knew each other very well.

Sure, networking has value, and it's important during the fundraising
process...but if your skills are strong in other areas, focus on those. Let
your partner do the networking, if you aren't comfortable with it.

Also, don't let the networking urge get too strong. Building a great product
is the single most important aspect of starting a company, so don't get
distracted by what you're not good at; do what you do better than anyone, and
you can find someone to work with who is great at the other stuff.

~~~
Joakal
I'm great at functionality and technical bits but ensuring aesthetics as part
of targeting the demographics is making me quickly appreciate the efforts of
UX/Graphic designers. However, to come across one without coming across as an
exploiter, or to be exploited, or to be guaranteed some effort is something I
lack in. So far, most are "interested but can't commit" the rest think it's
too risky.

So yes, networking for me is more than seeking funding, it's to seek partners
among other things.

Being deaf and not socialising means a lot of setbacks down the line. Think
socially awkward misunderstandings.

------
atgm
I was born with hearing until I was three or so, at which point my hearing in
both ears started declining for some unknown reason until I was profoundly
hearing impaired. When I was sixteen, I got a cochlear implant in my left ear;
I can hear well enough in day-to-day situations that people often don't
realize I'm deaf, but I still can't do much with phones, so we're sort of in
the same boat; regardless, I do understand where you're coming from.

It's still difficult for me to understand conversations in groups and ongoing
environments. What I usually end up doing is the simplest approach: I say up-
front that I have hearing problems and that it would really help me if people
tried to speak in turns. I also try to choose my battlegrounds -- a secluded
room as opposed to the middle of a busy coffee shop. The idea is that I give
myself every possible advantage.

If that fails, I ask people to write something down, or to repeat themselves.

I'm pretty good at pitching ideas and leading discussion when I can leverage
the environment like that. Phones are pretty much impossible for me to use,
though, unless I'm in a very quiet environment. Some of that could probably be
alleviated by practice, but a lot of it, I'm afraid, is just due to
environmental noise/noise on the line/noise in their background/no lips.
Teleconferencing is a bit better, if only because there's usually a chat
option to clarify things that get mixed up in audio.

Whatever you do, though, don't give up. People can be remarkably accommodating
if you tell them up-front what your problems are; don't let the one surly guy
ruin your day.

I'm a native English speaker and learned Mandarin Chinese for a while (tones
and all) and am still learning Japanese (6 years now). I currently live and
work in Japan, using Japanese every day, and dealing with strange accents in
English. It was a challenge at first, but I held my ground and now I've been
here for four years.

So you can do it too.

------
Dylanlacey
I'm not deaf so I'm afraid I can't give personal experience, but I guess what
I would do if I couldn't casually join in conversations is:

* Participate in the online versions of the networking groups first... Get people to know your personality, who you are, and the fact that you're deaf

* Wear a namebadge at events so that people can put your face with your name and you won't just be some random

* Ask any "Formal" networking events if they could invite a SL interpreter to come, and try to get some sort of video coverage of any talks so that other hearing impaired people can watch them online

* "Buddy Up" with someone with better hearing so they can network with you, introduce you, and if nescessary, explain you need a bit extra help with participation

* Take a small computing device so, if you can't read lips, you can still read typed answers

I'm sorry if any of these are patronizing, as I said, I've never been in that
situation before. FWIW, I think buddying up is probably the most helpful idea.

Best of luck, and if you're in Brisbane, Australia, I'd be more then willing
to come hang out with another programmer, regardless of how their IO ports
work.

~~~
Joakal
Cheers! I'm actually based in Sydney and quite dry (How are you able to type?
Haha). And unfortunately don't know sign language. But the rest are great
tips. Aside from DTrejo's IRC networking startups, do you know any local ones?

~~~
Dylanlacey
My suburb was only one away from Fairfield, which got _fucked_ , but I was
perfectly fine except for a loss of telecommunications at one point.

There is a fairly active meetup community in Australia... I know there's a
Hackerspace, a Functional Programming group, a LUG, Alt.Net Sydney, there's a
Brisbane Hackerspace group # #hsbne on Hackerspace...

------
chime
Pardon my ignorance but are there any iPhone apps that convert speech to text
(Dragon etc.) in real-time? It doesn't need to be 100% perfect but it could
help a lot. I personally wouldn't have any problem whatsoever speaking
clearly/slowly into a phone if it meant someone else could understand me.
Everyone loves to talk. You'd be a walking proof that someone wants to listen.

~~~
Joakal
That would be pretty useful. I was reading something like that a while ago by
a different company to dragon. Here's Dragon Naturally Speaking iPhone App of
it: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qsge4iM-FTE>

------
michaelbuckbee
One of the founders of Keen Guides - <http://www.keenguides.com/> \- is deaf.
I got to hear their pitch as part of LaunchBox09 and it was spectacular: a
large impetus for them to create their company was to enable the deaf and
hearing impaired to participate in Museum tours, etc.

~~~
zero998
Catherine is a good friend of my wife (through the deaf community), Keen
certainly fixes a problem that my wife comes across all the time when we
travel.

------
andrewacove
This is a really interesting situation, certainly not one I'd thought about
before. My knee-jerk reaction was "well, this sounds like something you should
start a company to solve." (ASL to speech apps?)

I'm rarely the pitch recipient, but I'd be interested to know how people would
respond if you carried a video of your pitch on your phone. Sure, you'd have
to iterate it a lot, and that's trickier with a video, but it might enable you
to deliver the initial message clearly.

The other idea that comes to mind is . . . what about an interpreter? Could
you go to events with a friend (or, ideally, a cofounder) who you can
communicate with, who can then relay that information effectively?

~~~
Joakal
I don't really have any close contacts or any friends remotely interested in
joining my ambitious pursuits short of we'll try it out when you're done.

I don't know sign language though. That's an interesting idea to have ASL to
speech apps but I think it would work strongly if there was gloves with tags
so the software could automatically read it.

~~~
juiceandjuice
You weren't born almost completely deaf, were you? (I ask because your writing
is so good, and you said you don't know sign language) Can you speak at all?
If you can speak, I'd suggest getting two phones (at least one blackberry) and
fire up an IPRelay call. Have whoever you want to speak speak into the phone,
then you can read the text in close to real time, and speak right back. You
could let the operator know that the call is going to be a multi-person call.

I've worked with a bunch of deaf people (i.e. more than 5, most the day). Half
of them could read lips, and that helped out a ton. One guy could read lips
and approximate speech, although in very limited english, but it was fine
communicating with him.

~~~
Joakal
I was brought up to pronounce pretty well although I try to say some new words
as I read them. Sadly, I know so many long words but can't say it offline
which makes me come across as incompetent in some cases.

The two phones sound like a impressive idea. Has it worked before?

Also where did you work with deaf people?

~~~
juiceandjuice
Sorenson Communications. I wish I picked up more ASL while I was there, but
the deaf people I worked with made it almost unnecessary to know ASL because
they could read lips so well and we often had interpreters nearby.

------
shade
Wow, I'm glad you posted this question -- there's more of us deaf guys here
than I'd realized.

I am also profoundly deaf, as a result of bacterial meningitis shortly before
my fifth birthday.

That said, I have less of an entrepreneurial bent than you do, in that I work
in a consulting/professional services role for a small company rather than
starting my own. I'd like to start my own someday but I have some of the same
concerns that you do, and I'm not sure how to address them either. :)

Groups are very difficult for me. This is partly because they tend to break
down into a bunch of conversations that are really hard for me to follow, so I
tend to be afraid to jump in and really say anything since I worry it will be
off-topic -- so I generally don't speak much in groups unless someone asks me
a specific question. Doesn't help that I tend to be really introverted in
general, too.

As far as phones go, when I interviewed with my current company they were cool
about doing the initial "phone" screen via IM, so that hasn't been a problem.
We use IM heavily for internal communications anyway so it's not a big deal
for me, and most of our external clients use it as well. We've used Campfire
in the past in lieu of teleconferences, or at worst my project manager/account
exec will be on the conference and relay any critical information I need to be
aware of.

Anyway, if any of the deaf folks here would like someone to shoot the breeze
with or whatever, feel free to drop me a line (email's in my profile, please
mention HN in the subject line) -- I'd like to have more people in my circle
of acquaintances who are in a similar situation as me and understand some of
the unique issues (like teleconferences) that we have to deal with.

------
zero998
I am hearing, but my wife is deaf (since birth), and she does fairly well with
cochlear implants. Here are some comments I have as a connected outsider.

* Know your strengths and weaknesses. I see a lot of great ideas on this thread to help with communication in groups, with new people, etc. But the main point is to learn where your weaknesses are, and address them specifically. There is such great technology around today. Figure out what your specific problems are, and look for solutions. Sorenson video relay for calling, or the myriad of IM based ones. Google voice for voicemail transcription (not perfect, but usually very helpful, and better than it being unlistened to). Campfire or other IM's for project planning. Quick demos/demo video available on your smartphone or tablet (Picture/video worth 1k words right?) Technology should be your bread and butter, leverage it to help ease social pain points.

* Have a good co-founder. As PG states (<http://www.paulgraham.com/startupmistakes.html>) you should almost always have another co-founder. If this person is hearing, great, they can more easily integrate in different social situations. If not, GOTO 1 (but also have the other benefits that PG lists).

* Have a great product, and believe in it. A good MvP should tell a lot more about your skills and vision than anything else.

* Put yourself out there. The easiest way to fail is to not try at all. Investors are looking for good products and teams. Being deaf doesn't interfere with that at all.

------
blaqsmith
I am deaf, use hearing aids, and know only enough ASL to get in trouble. For
socializing in groups I can't help much (I'm still trying to figure that one
out), but for taking questions at conferences or presentations, you should
consider CART. For phone calls, if you want to avoid the coldness of Relay,
consider the VCO variation.

Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART) is what I used sporadically
throughout college to understand those professors with a particularly heavy
accent, and consists of a person in the audience typing out the audience
questions on a laptop or transcribing machine. You hold a pager-like device
which the typing is transmitted to. There's a slight delay while they type,
but I found CART transcribers on a whole to be quite a bit better than Relay
transcribers, in terms of speed. The downside is that it is expensive,
$100-$200/hr here in the States, so it's only viable for important
presentations. I was lucky in that my university had an accessibility program
and covered this expense for me.

For phone calls (not so much busy conference calls, too slow), IF you are
confident in your speaking voice and want to be able to convey the emotions
behind your words, see if you have Voice Carry Over (VCO) available to you.
This variation on relay is a 3-way call between you and the person you want to
talk to, with the relay operator on the line as a non-speaking party. They
will type the speech of the other party out for you, and you can speak for
yourself.

------
anthonycerra
Joakal, after reading a bunch of comments on this thread it seems like you
have a great group of people with whom to start your own online meetup.

You could organize it to be in a private IRC at a certain date and moderate
the discussion. IMs could be used for people who want to breakout and have
private conversations. It doesn't have to be limited to those who can't attend
a physical meetup, but maybe at first just to test the waters.

This post was really inspiring, thanks for having the courage to ask the
question. So many people will find excuses not to do something and it's so
invigorating to see people who, literally, stop at nothing to succeed.

Best of luck to you!

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brmj
In this case, the internet is definitely your friend. Also, it is worth noting
that there are a lot of technical people who graduate from RIT and pick up
some ASL while there to better interact with the NTID students. At some point
you may be able to use that to your advantage, though It is really up to your
creativity or luck to figure out how.

In any case, good luck.

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Mz
I'm not deaf. I have a different handicap. (I have a compromised immune system
and get ill from spending time in group situations.) I have spent time looking
at examples of other people who made money via the web. I think if you want to
make it as an entrepreneur, you can. You just have to be realistic about what
your limitations are and work with it. "Realistic" doesn't mean to me that you
just can't do something. It means to me that sometimes you can do it, you just
have to do it your way.

For me, my handicap is something of a "test" for other people: A lot of people
don't understand and won't accommodate. They get discarded fast. I have come
to view this as a kind of time saver. :-)

Good luck.

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DTrejo
Joakal, you may not meet many people in your area, but definitely check out
#startups on freenode (<http://webchat.freenode.net/?channels=startups>).

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juiceandjuice
Oh yeah, the 12" dry erase boards work awesome too.

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trizk
I wonder if you could hook something like Mvyu media viewer glasses to an
iPhone or Android TTS app.

