About Us

The deaf population has been greatly underserved in terms of supported employment, as many community rehabilitation programs do not have job coaches who can use sign language to communicate or are familiar with deafness and its cultural issues. PAI is the exception to that rule. It has made as part of its organization a division that will provide supported employment services to those who communicate via sign language by hiring deaf job coaches. These coaches not only communicate with their deaf consumers directly, but have the skills to communicate with employers and co-workers as well.

 

Clearly, the advantages of having a deaf job coach for deaf consumers are many. Not only is there direct communication eliminating almost all of the need for interpreting services, but these job coaches act as language models, role models, social skill models and employment skills models. I have seen time and time again the great motivation they provide by sharing a language and a culture. This program has shown great success in terms of employment outcomes and consumer satisfaction.

©2009 Preferred Alternatives Inc