Welcome to General Chat - GAW Community Area
This General Chat area started off as a place for people to talk about things that are off topic, however it has quickly evolved into a community and has become an integral part of the GAW experience for many of us.
Based on its evolving needs and plenty of user feedback, we are trying to bring some order and institute some rules. Please make sure you read these rules and participate in the spirit of this community.
Rules for General Chat
-
Be respectful to each other. This is of utmost importance, and comments may be removed if deemed not respectful.
-
Avoid long drawn out arguments. This should be a place to relax, not to waste your time needlessly.
-
Personal anecdotes, puzzles, cute pics/clips - everything welcome
-
Please do not spam at the top level. If you have a lot to post each day, try and post them all together in one top level comment
-
Try keep things light. If you are bringing in deep stuff, try not to go overboard.
-
Things that are clearly on-topic for this board should be posted as a separate post and not here (except if you are new and still getting the feel of this place)
-
If you find people violating these rules, deport them rather than start a argument here.
-
Feel free to give feedback as these rules are expected to keep evolving
In short, imagine this thread to be a local community hall where we all gather and chat daily. Please be respectful to others in the same way
I hate to say it, but put your deafness out there first, because the HR trolls can use it to fill their quotas of minorities/disabled with less risk of a disruptive employee.
I was already in the workforce when 911 was perpetrated upon us, and have been lucky to never really have had a raw job search. College connections pulled me into my first job, and business links bridged me from there. If you don't have any friends developed from your past, start making new ones. I think I mentioned contractors, which are more important than most people understand.
Financially speaking, companies don't want to hire FT because the taxes and benefits are costly. (Same reason they'd rather lease than buy, taxes punish ownership.) So get into a consulting or contacting firm and work projects and gigs for them; try to find one that has benefits and treats it's people like real FT employees. When working gigs, do not ignore the value of learning from your colleagues and the company people, connecting with them and never burning bridges. Companies will hire contractors away, they pay a headhunting fee so it's equitable. But if your firm pays well and keeps you engaged, you can start a long time. You are valuable for your skills, and for your perspective- you know that there are projects (gov/state) that require specific development for people with disabilities, and you can "represent!" (We've got a friend who's blind and he's a great advocate for reasonable accommodations and product/service improvement for the disabled.) You can play things either way, but use the hand you've been dealt to get your foot in the door.