RIT program encourages deaf entrepreneurs

From The Democrat & Chronicle in N.Y.:

In the world of work, deaf and hard-of-hearing people are notably absent, at least in large numbers.

Estimates vary on joblessness in the community, though a 2008 Cornell University study indicated 44 percent of working-age Americans with a hearing disability were unemployed.

Pointing to entrepreneurship as a way to boost the financial fortunes of the deaf community, a Rochester Institute of Technology researcher has started an investigation into the state of business creation in the deaf world.

"This stemmed from a desire to ... find out how has entrepreneurship embedded itself in the deaf community and what can we do to promote it," said Richard DeMartino, director of RIT's Simone Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship and principal investigator in the study.

RIT, through its National Technical Institute for the Deaf, long has had a focus on career training in the deaf community. And the school in 2007 created a $1.6 million scholarship fund, using federal and Johnson Scholarship Foundation money, for deaf and hard-of-hearing students interested in careers as entrepreneurs.

The issue is of particular importance in the Rochester area, with one of the largest deaf and hard-of-hearing populations in the United States.

A man who started a computer business in her South Korean hometown that hired deaf employees prompted Youmee Lee (pictured), 20, now of Illinois, to consider that career path.

"He became an inspiration for the deaf community and earned great respect.," said the RIT student and scholarship recipient. "That inspired me to encourage deaf people in other countries, where resources are scarce, figure out ways to set up businesses or organizations to advocate for themselves."

With a father who owns a printing business and a mother who wants to start her own business, "It's always been a passion of mine to start up a business someday and this scholarship was a perfect fit," said Kenneth Dehaan, 22, of California and a graduate student in professional studies. "After graduation, I hope to start up a business, but I am also trying to decide between starting up a business or finding a job to generate cash flow to support the startup. Also, I need some more work experience."

For the Deaf Entrepreneurship Research Initiative, which will involve NTID, the Simone Center and RIT's Saunders College of Business, DeMartino is interviewing a small group of deaf entrepreneurs, using information from them to craft an anonymous survey intended to go out this summer to 10,000 deaf and hard-of-hearing people nationwide.

"We know there's a deaf entrepreneurial community," DeMartino said. "We don't know the size or the shape of it. We don't know the target markets. Does the deaf community go outside the deaf community for their primary markets? What types of businesses are they predisposed to create?

"With interactive technologies, it seems intuitive the younger college-educated entrepreneurs would be able to find new avenues to overcome barriers and create businesses. But no one has ever studied this. These are some of the questions we are going to be looking at."

Backing up the research effort is a $19,000 grant from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.

Reasons for joblessness among deaf people can vary, Lee said, "But I know that many companies are somehow afraid to hire them due to communication barriers. Unfortunately, discrimination still exists."

However, Dehaan said, "I believe it all depends on the person. It's only a matter of confidence and effort. Deafness is not a barrier, but a gift."