Giving A Voice to Deaf People in Metal Sector


Karabulut Ş. (Koordinatör), Okyayuz A. , Erkazancı durmuş H. , Oral A. , Bilgin M. , Altuntaş O.

  • Proje Türü: Erasmus+ Projesi
  • Proje Grubu: Fen ve Mühendislik
  • Projenin Yürütüldüğü Birim: Hacettepe ASO 1. OSB MYO
  • Başlangıç Tarihi: Eylül 2019
  • Bitiş Tarihi: Temmuz 2022

Özet

Metal sector covers many sectors such as machinery, manufacturing, automotive, defense industry. Machine elements are standard elements for generating energy or power, transmitting, modifying or accumulating and creating mechanical systems. Standard machine elements are used from the energy sector to the metal sector. With the developments in technology and production systems, the task and working principles of standard machine elements need to be made clearer for the deaf students in the vocational training and the workers at firms. Machine elements are important because they are used in almost all sectors. The firm faces a lack of skilled labor which even will be growing in the future. Companies in some branches have difficulties to find employees, especially in the metal sector. Thus the role of disabled people as labor force becomes more important. Adults with hearing loss or deaf people have a much higher unemployment rate. Integrating them into the job market is a key challenge; more than 50 % of deaf people in Europe and Turkey are unemployed, and those who are employed are often in low-skilled and low-paid jobs. Today, education for them heavily focused on school and apprenticeships, rather than long-term employment. After starting to work in the company, hearing-impaired people or people with hearing loss have difficulties in adapting to the company and have communication problems within the company. The following are some of the challenges that people experience after employment; Employer Misconceptions and Attitudes: The biggest contribution to the high unemployment rate in the Deaf Community is employers’  misconceptions of them and attitudes toward deaf people. The firm may view deaf candidates as unproductive, weak or unintelligent, all misconceptions that are unfounded in fact. In addition, higher expectations are often placed on them to process knowledge and communicate as quickly as hearing employees without support. When expectations are not met, employers may see their deaf employees as incompetent. In doing this, the company fails to recognize the true potential of a deaf employee. Barriers to Job Advancement: Deaf individuals or individuals with hearing loss seek job advancement within the company, but they are often put in a disadvantaged position when they do not have access to important information exchanged within the company. Missing out on this ongoing incidental information prevents them from building rapport and forming key relationships with coworkers and supervisors which are essential for job promotions. Briefly, discrimination plays a large part in the working lives of deaf people, and many deaf people are forced to exit employment because of it. Furthermore, attitudes of employers and colleagues can prevent deaf people from fulfilling their potential, and often lead them to feel isolated at work. Also, it is very difficult for a hearing impaired to have a career in the firm because of the misunderstanding. In addition, there is no developed technical sign language for hearing impaired employees working on the production line. Hearing-impaired workers cannot express the machine elements with a wide range of applications in sign language. Therefore they have communication problems in the firm and cannot benefit from the technical training provided within the company. Technical sign language in the specific sector should be created and be given related training at the firm. This training can help emphasize the value that deaf employees and employees with hearing loss bring to their companies. Such training helps to eliminate misconceptions and stereotypes of them, how best to collaborate with them, and how to better advocate for them in employment settings. Also, companies should take advantage to employ and maximize the skills of them. By strengthening communication with them by providing equal access to meetings and task instructions will help them do their jobs efficiently. This will allow hearing employees to communicate directly with other employees and vice versa. For the reasons mentioned above, the project purpose is providing technical training to deaf people and people with hearing loss through video contents available to all users on a website augmented reality by creating sign language for machine elements in the metal sector as well as providing occupational guidelines to the firm in order to increase their long-term employment rate and communication in the firm in order to facilitate the adaption to the firm and have a career at the firm and to increase the rate of Call 2019 Round 1 KA2 - Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices KA202 - Strategic Partnerships for vocational education and training in this sector. Partners will be able to implement and develop a more creative approach to the difficult topic such as creating sign language of technical training. This cooperation among partners will also enhance a more comprehensive look at sign language and adaption of them to the firm.