When Deaf Professionals Are Treated as Cost Centres
Deaf professionals should be seen for what we bring, not what access might cost.
I’ve noticed how quickly conversations about Deaf candidates and employees can become conversations about money.
“Interpreters are expensive.”
“We can’t afford support for every stage.”
“They’ll need too many adjustments.”
“It’s easier to hire a hearing candidate.”
“Won’t Access to Work cover everything?”
“Can’t they bring their own interpreter?”
Sometimes, even a family member is suggested, as though access can be informal, unpaid, or arranged around convenience.
This mindset reduces Deaf people to numbers before we are even seen as professionals.
It turns access into a burden.
It turns inclusion into a cost calculation.
And it quietly suggests that hearing candidates are easier, cheaper, and more desirable.
That is the pattern.
The issue is not only what is said out loud.
It is the assumption underneath it.
That Deaf people are expensive.
That access is extra.
That inclusion is optional if the budget feels uncomfortable.
But accessibility is not a luxury.
It is about equity, dignity, and fairness.
Deaf professionals bring skills, insight, leadership, lived knowledge, problem-solving, and cultural awareness.
We strengthen teams.
We widen understanding.
We contribute in ways that cannot be measured only by a spreadsheet.
Access should never be used to question whether we are worth including.
Because Deaf people are not cost centres.
We are colleagues.
We are candidates.
We are leaders.
