March 25, 2022 - Damon Johnson was born in New Hampshire to hearing parents and has an older sister. They all did not know sign language or about deafness. At age two and a half, his deafness was discovered through the traditional banging of pots and pans and yelling method. Damon was officially diagnosed with severe/profound hearing loss. After touching a light bulb, his first spoken word was ‘hop’ for ‘hot’ “so I guess my lipreading skills came naturally?”
When Damon was three, his family moved to California. He began his educational experience through the hard of hearing program that utilized the Total Communication method at local schools in Santa Barbara, California. Halfway through the third grade, he was placed in a mainstream class full time without support (no interpreter, note-taker, etc.). “That was a very difficult transition for me dealing with hearing privilege, but I stormed through it.” It was a hard journey from 3rd grade to the end of middle school for Damon, the only Deaf student in his graduating class who lost connection with the other HOH students. Before entering high school, Damon moved back to New Hampshire, attending Hanover High School. “Most of the students were already familiar with Deaf kids as there was a family there with two Deaf kids.”
He lost his signing skills and was a full-time oral student. Attending speech therapy from elementary through the first year of high school meant Damon had to miss out on half of a class weekly. He didn’t like to miss class discussions due to the pull-out sessions and enjoyed spending time with friends during lunch. Damon had enough and told his parents, which led to an agreement between Damon, his parents, and the school advisor to drop speech for a year and meet again later. “We never met again.”
Nevertheless, he practiced his speech by using friends and parents to help correct his speech and spent countless hours reading aloud to avoid attending speech therapy again. “One memorable moment was when I was asked to say the word ‘tests,’ and I struggled to pronounce the ‘t’ and ‘s’ together. After a few attempts, I said, “Exams, they mean the same thing. Let’s move on!” He still struggles to say ‘ts'' even to this day.
Language deprivation was evident during his first year of high school. Damon’s first essay, “I was proud of but was very upset at receiving a D+, and was placed in Special Education for additional help.” He worked very hard to improve his language skills and is very thankful to the Special Education team, “as I would not have been where I am today without them!”
Upon graduating from high school, Damon attended Gallaudet University, where he received a bachelor’s degree in Communication Arts followed by a master’s degree in Sign Language Education. “Growing up, I have always thought of myself as a hearing person with broken ears. Attending Gallaudet, I got the opportunity to learn a whole different world, Eyeth. I still struggled to identify myself as a hard of hearing person until I did my summer internship. On a week without campers, one day, the staff went on a boat trip, and throughout the day, my hearing aid battery died, and that was the moment of truth, I am Deaf.”
Damon moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, for his first professional job as the DHH Rehabilitation Specialist for Goodwill Industries. “ It wasn't difficult as there were staff interpreters for all meetings and training.” He then moved to Minnesota in 1993 to work for FIND, Inc. as a Program Director for the CAP program. Communication was almost entirely in ASL with staff and had interpreters readily available. In between major jobs, Damon did odd jobs such as working for McDonald's (where he became the first Deaf manager for the region in NC); a few restaurants as a dishwasher; a supervisor for a toy store; an electronics store; various group homes; and banking. “I stayed positive, knowing I will find the job that fits me the best.” He finally found his calling in 2000, kickstarting his teaching career, and has never looked back. Damon now teaches ASL at Mounds View High School and ASL and Deaf Studies at several colleges. His primary responsibility is to teach ASL, but he does more than teach. “I provide culture/historical analysis and life experiences encouraging students to become an ally for the D/DB/HH communities.”
He finds that “the most enjoyable thing about my job is to see the growth in students' awareness of ASL and the complexities of intersectionalities in the DDBHH communities.” He also loves to see the students’ journey from beginning to the end, with “seeing students start day 1 in their freshman year to the last day of their senior year, the growth and connection is an amazing experience!”
Damon shares that communication with hearing employees and customers at work can be challenging. “It has been a roller coaster experience.” He has experienced audism and approached it as an educational opportunity through providing brown bag lunches where he would teach ASL. He stresses the importance of having allies in the workplace supporting him along the way. Damon encourages others to keep a positive attitude and know their abilities, “I used it to get where I went, up the ladder everywhere I worked.” He understands how some people who “offended” him may not be aware; he stresses the importance of being proactive instead of reactive and states that using humor is a good approach to use.
He shares a saying that his father would share, “There is always a way.” Damon never gave up believing his father's saying. “I have been asked often how I was able to do my job well with hearing coworkers and the ability to communicate with them. My response has always been, communication is a two-way street. How many does it take to tango?” Damon uses lipreading and speaking to get by “like a hearing person with a head cold.” Damon states that his positive attitude is the key to finding a way to make it work. “I made it through, but honestly...I am just very good at winging it through. “ Damon also uses technology such as Apple Siri on the phone to “translate spoken word to typed English,” Google Meet with auto-captioning if ASL interpreters are not available in a pinch. “I look forward to a day where there is an app that gives not only the hearing but also D/DB/HH users complete access to communication on the spot.”
After leaving his first job, complete with access to staff interpreters that were readily available, Damon met with struggles getting interpreters at his odd jobs that followed. He shares that his boss would question why he needed an interpreter “when you can communicate well?” He was fortunate that some jobs had a signing coworker that knew basic signs and could communicate with Damon. But for the majority of the time, Damon would lipread or have a coworker jot down notes if he missed something. Upon learning more about the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), Damon would educate the employers and human resource personnel, which led to them providing communication access for him. His primary communication use is through email and texting, and “using Google Meet is awesome, especially for departmental meetings!”
Damon shares the following advice: “keep a positive attitude. Always know there is a way. Be proactive and be in the present.”
Outside of work, Damon enjoys playing puzzles as it relaxes him. He used to play golf and would love to get back to it someday. Meanwhile, he catches up with friends and is with his family.
The #CanDoAnything campaign showcases people who are deaf, deafblind, or hard of hearing at work, giving them an opportunity to share what they do at their jobs and explain how communication access works for them. This campaign shows what our community can do, which is anything!
