

Indian courier service hires only deaf workers - froggy
http://springwise.com/non-profit_social_cause/miraklecouriers/

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lucasoman
Aside from the obvious reasons, this is also great because it allows the deaf
to work in a deaf-friendly work environment; everyone or most there probably
sign.

Much of a deaf person's life is spent watching, in silence and isolation, as
the hearing people around them communicate freely. Depending on the area,
socializing a deaf family member can be a real challenge. Finding a job like
this would be a huge help.

~~~
electromagnetic
Agreed, deaf people are often forced to have later social developments. I
believe I received my defining social development at around 15 (note:
graduation is much younger in the UK where I'm from) when I was reaching
graduation and the shit was about to hit the proverbial fan. I realised that
there's a time and place for friends, and certain people are just not friend
material (this lesson is still helping me).

Deaf people are often stranded until their mid-twenties or even later to reach
these developmental milestones in social relationships. Landing a job in a
deaf-friendly workplace would place the deaf person in an ideal situation to
develop many of these social milestones long before they ordinarily would.

We're an auditory species by nature, so I can only imagine the isolation one
must feel being surrounded by audiophiles when you're forced to be a
visuaphile(?).

~~~
jacquesm
I've often wondered what would be harder, be blind or be deaf, and since I
love music and love to program I really am stuck in the middle, no matter what
I'd lose something that makes me in to who I am. Pretty disturbing.

~~~
ZeroGravitas
You can program if you lose your sight. TV Raman and Peter Lundblad both work
as programmers for Google and are blind.

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jacquesm
A friend of mine (Nicolette Mak) has done something similar in the
Netherlands, a courier service for handicapped people called 'Valid Express' (
<http://www.validexpress.nl/> ). It's a huge success, she now has about 50
vehicles on the road with people that have 'challenging bodies' as she calls
it, each vehicle is adapted to it's driver.

~~~
microcentury
Just FYI, I used the word 'handicapped' in conversation recently and brought
it to a grinding awkward halt. The preferred term is 'disabled', apparently
due to the 'hand in cap' associations of 'handicapped.' YMMV :-)

~~~
jacquesm
Thanks, it's always nice to find someone that wants to help you polish your
use of a second language, it's appreciated.

Subtle changes like that are hard to get right, I don't usually use that word
in English and in dutch it is 'gehandicapte', and I translated that literally.

I sympathize with 'ars' though, whatever you call it the truth is someone has
a body with bits and pieces not working the way the rest of us have.

What always bothered me about this, is when a dog loses a leg, the dog
_instantly_ transforms into a three legged dog, still competes with his litter
mates as though nothing has changed, no special allowances given, none
expected. It's literally just another dog. We humans seem to continuously
compare the people around us with the 'norm' and we like to label those that
are visibly different in a negative way, and those that are visibly different
like to draw attention to that fact in demanding we level out the differences.

~~~
lucasoman
Interestingly, it's a popular viewpoint in the deaf community (at least here
in the USA) that deafness is not a handicap at all and, in the opinion of a
minority, is in fact an advantage over those who are hearing.

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cromulent
A free-flow toll road operator in Melbourne did something similar for the
licence plate verification operators - they only hired deaf people, and their
bosses learnt to sign.

The system automatically identifies the licence plate for tag-less vehicles
using digital photography and OCR, but they are supposed to be verified, so
the operators flip through the images quickly and look for mismatches.

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ThomPete
In Denmark there is a company called Specialisterne (The Specialists) that
only hire people with autism as software testers. It's a huge success as some
types of autism is perfect for extremely repetitive work as it both improves
the actual testing and even better the autist loves it.

<http://www.specialisterne.dk/>

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billybob
Neat. There's a group in Cambodia that teaches blind people massage so they
can make a living. It's great to help people use the abilities they have.

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mark_l_watson
Good stuff. In my small town one of the two super markets hires people with
disabilities and that is one reason I do my shopping there.

A good friend has been deaf since she was about 4. She has accomplished a lot
in her life, but many things are difficult for her.

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apitaru
It's inspiring to see entrepreneurs fill gaps that many governments leave
behind when it comes to accessibility and the workplace. Thanks for the great
post.

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Frazzydee
Toronto has a similar courier service that only hires people with mental
health issues: <http://www.awaycourier.ca/>

They use public transit for pick-ups and deliveries.

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duck
That is a _great_ idea assuming they're not bicycle couriers - that seems
pretty dangerous in a city like that.

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lut4rp
This is _awesome_.

~~~
latch
yes, it is.

"social element is embedded in the commercial operations" is something I want
to remember.

Can't help but think that, should this happen here, someone would try and sue
- which is sad.

~~~
kareemm
i saw muhammad yunus (grameen bank) speak a couple years ago and "social
element is embedded in the commercial operations" is almost verbatim how he
said he thinks about building his businesses.

