Deaf former theatre worker raises curtain on new health board career
The dramatic change in role has provided a boost to the technical services team and has shone a spotlight on accessibility.
Through their work to introduce new adaptive technology, Aeron and colleagues have also helped to pave the way for anyone else with a hearing impairment who may wish to use it in the health board in future.
Aeron, 28, from Killay in Swansea, said: “I know it’s quite a lot of pressure for other people if they have never met or worked with a profoundly deaf person. But the most important thing is it doesn’t have to be perfect. You just have to be willing to try, be open minded.
“Confidence comes from knowing you have the support of your managers. They are really willing to listen.
“My advice is that communication is the biggest accessibility tool, so doing what you can to facilitate that is the first step to making sure someone feels comfortable in the working environment, but that will be different for everybody.”
Technical services administrator Aeron Jones, left, and Howard Stevens, technical services manager
(Image: Swansea Bay NHS)For technical services administrator Aeron, who was born with profound hearing loss in both ears, 90 per cent of his understanding comes from lip reading. As a result, colleagues make sure they face him when speaking so he can see their mouths.
In addition, an Access to Work grant has provided a microphone which transmits directly to Aeron’s hearing aids providing “a backup for the final 10 per cent” of understanding.
This system is used instead of a headset when Aeron uses Teams, which also has a live captioning function.
Technical services manager Howard Stevens said these adaptations cover communication across the majority of Aeron’s work.
But he was concerned about one part of his role, which is to provide cover to the health board’s clinical waste collection service. Around 15,000 people are registered for collections of clinical sharps boxes and other items.
“That involves taking phone calls,” said Howard.
“Aeron blew us away in the interview, but I did wonder how he’d cope with this.”
Thankfully Aeron came prepared with the idea of using a BT app called Relay UK, which involves an operator turning speech from an incoming caller into text which Aeron replies to in text, which is then relayed to the caller by the operator.
And while it was tricky to integrate the app with health board systems, Aeron and Howard praised digital services for their determination to make it work.
“There was a lot of trial and error but Joshua Bell from digital went through every single possibility there was in terms of setting me up,” said Aeron.
“Now there is a framework going forward, which will be a massive help in future in terms of using Relay.
“Using it hasn’t been an issue. But if there is any confusion the operator explains it because it’s part of their job.”
Howard and colleagues also undertook hearing impairment awareness training to help Aeron make the smooth transition to the health board.
Aeron uses the Relay UK app for phone calls which turns speech into text.
(Image: Swansea Bay NHS)This involved learning how hearing impairments range over a wide scale shown on a graph known as an audiogram. This ranges from mild, where some soft sounds may be difficult to hear when there is background noise, to profound, which is Aeron’s level of impairment.
This means he can only naturally pick up sounds of around 120 decibels, equal to the sound of a plane taking off.
“In the training we were told to never say it doesn’t matter if the person you are speaking to doesn’t catch what you say the first time,” said Howard.
“If it was important enough for you to say it, just try again.
“We’ve also had a number of conversations with Aeron and his line manager Kyle Jones and have picked up other minor adaptations.
“We didn’t always used to have our cameras on in Teams meetings, but now we do, so Aeron can lip read and he uses big screens so it’s clearer. We also found out that Aeron struggled if someone was sharing their screen and talking because their video window reduces to accommodate the document and then it’s hard to see their face. So now if we share a document, we take it down as soon as possible.
“Everything has been a very minor addition to how we work and think. It’s a very easy accommodation to make, especially with the software he was given. And we have said that if there’s anything that annoys him – for instance I’m a right one for carrying on speaking when walking out of the room – just say.”
In fact, Howard said that in the end his only worry was that Aeron would find the new job less exciting than his career in a myriad of roles in theatre and meeting stars on opening night.
“His jobs have been very creative, but he’s left the bright lights of stage and screen behind for estates at Singleton Hospital,” said Howard.
Thankfully, however, that has not been an issue at all.
“I did everything from admin to book keeping to communicating with stage managers and opening first nights,” said Aeron.
“But accessibility in theatre is nebulous – there is no great structure. I wanted something more local and more settled.
“This role has boosted my confidence when it comes to being part of the workforce.”
As for excitement and plot twists, these are things to be avoided in his new role.
Aeron deals with hundreds of highly-complex utility invoices for health board sites, including major hospitals, ensuring what we are paying is in line with our own estimation of consumption.
Howard said: “With energy prices the way they are the cost element is incredibly high and there’s a lot of data involved, so any small discrepancy or swing in the data could cost us hundreds of thousands of pounds.”
“You have to be on the ball,” said Aeron.
“But I like looking through the data and recognising the patterns.”
Aeron continues to indulge his creative side in his spare time as an avid Cosplay fan. He is pictured here as character Ashton Greymoore from Critical Role, which is a Dungeons and Dragons show
(Image: Swansea Bay NHS)As for creativity, Aeron continues to indulge his passion in his spare time as an avid Cosplayer.
Cosplay is an activity and performance art where participants wear costumes to represent a specific character.
Aeron dresses up for playing Dungeons and Dragons with friends and attends comic conventions known as Comic Cons.
“That’s my creative outlet. My job is very different now, but in a good way,” he said.
(Lead image: Swansea Bay NHS)
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Kit Peters
Paul
