Justin Barlow

May 6, 2021 - Justin Barlow was born in Fargo, North Dakota, and raised in Minnesota, which he calls home to this day. He graduated from the University of Minnesota with a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering and is currently pursuing a graduate degree from ASU in Materials Science and Engineering. He started the first semester with a course in the Fundamentals of Materials Science: Electrical, Magnetic, and Optical and is enjoying it thus far: “We’re exploring quantum engineering, how atoms interact with different types of factors including light, heat, and so on. It’s very intensive.”  Justin identifies as Deaf. 

He works at Starkey Hearing Technologies, focusing on the manufacture of hearing aids: “I design and develop the products that do not work for me,” he laughs. He began working for Starkey in 2014 as a Mechanical Engineer. As a mechanical engineer, Justin is responsible for bringing the executives’ visions to deliver the products to the production floor. “What should the next product look like? How can it help our consumer base? How can our products improve their lifestyles? What about hearing care? Health care?” Those are some of the questions that get asked at his work.

So Justin and the team will take those ideas, answer the questions, and figure out the project's scope at hand, and dive into the conceptual design phase. In his work, Justin uses CAD - Computer-Aided Design and 3-D printers to create prototypes of the project to test the product itself. Eventually, once the mock-up is approved, the prototype goes into a testing phase where the team explores to ensure that the product meets the requirements, including approval from the FDA, among others. 

Once the prototype passes those requirements, they then order the tools needed to produce the prototype, sometimes re-using existing tools they already have from prior projects. “Sometimes we even create new parts to use in the product - our goal is to make a functional device within the scope of the particular project while trying to keep production costs low.”

Justin’s responsibility focuses on project management, from concept to product release, into the field for consumer use. Between 2014 and now, he was responsible for the development of four projects that saw successful releases. The time range of concept to production takes around 18 months. “It’s a pretty long time range, but boy, it’s crammed with scheduled deadlines to meet. One project I worked on only took four months - Bill Austin, the head of Starkey - asked to see the product by January, and at that time, we were assigned the project in September. So it was a mad dash with a compressed production timeline to get it ready to show him.” It was a lot of pressure, but the team successfully pulled off that feat. “That was a good one.” 

He finds inspiration at work through his coworkers. “Honestly, my coworkers - they have been very open-minded - they don’t view me as a subordinate - they view me as an equal.” Justin mentions that it’s rare to see in today’s society. “I hope to see more and more people be open to working alongside Deaf folks and using their potential to the fullest.” 

Justin thrives on meeting and working with “smart colleagues who share their talents, their knowledge, their dreams, their challenges, how they approach things differently, and it’s been a thrill learning those things about them, and at the same time, share my skill set - I’m not afraid to share. That’s what makes for great teamwork and success.” 

Justin finds it challenging to work with new people. “... getting to know each other, and assuring each other that I’m their equal - I find that I have to assert myself via self-advocacy by showing them that I’m capable - and that takes time to develop.” 

When the order came to stay home to work due to the pandemic, that order left Justin to figure out the logistics of interpreting, communication strategies, and how to work together from afar. “Like the hashtag, we’re all in this together - it’s true, but for me, I feel that I have to work harder to communicate to ensure transparency is happening, so that adds to my daily workload.” He mentions having to work harder to get around that barrier. “The reality of life for deaf and hard of hearing folks - we were already lagging behind others in normal society, in terms of communication, so we have to work harder to not only keep up, but keep pace with others, and we compensate for that by over-communicating to make sure that we all are on the same page.” It is something that Justin is accustomed to doing to ensure communication facilitation hits all the marks, including chat, email, task lists, requests for input, or feedback, among others. 

“So that’s basically my advice - work harder than normal people do. Life is unfair - we all know that - and it’s even more so for us, but we can still do it. Nothing can stop us. We just need to put more effort in doing it to become successful.” 

Justin shares an example of joining a new project with a new cohort of folks he has not worked with before. “Be sure to ask your questions - don’t be afraid - ask your questions, and get answers for your questions.” That way, the cohort could see Justin for who he was, someone with interesting ideas and insight, which brought valuable experience for everyone working on the project. “It showed them that I was motivated about the project, and that made them want to work with me.” 

Justin stresses how important this is by relating to his classes, which he is currently taking towards his master’s degree. For an online class, where Justin accesses the material through Live Transcript instead of interpreters, “not always ideal, but it gets the point across.” Justin explains how he utilizes the chat feature to ask the professors questions and offer insight on the subject. “It made the professor realize that I was interested - and he mentioned that I do ask interesting questions that made them think on a deeper level on the subject.” He compares it to drop-in office hours where students might ask for answers to homework assignments that they did not understand “they don’t learn from that. It doesn’t help you think - they are just lazy and want the answers. Not me. I want to know more and do more than what assignments ask of me.” That leads to better communication between Justin and his professors, and he finds that they are more willing to go further in working with him. “So the bottom line is - show your motivation. Show your interests. Assert yourselves among your colleagues.”

Outside of work (and graduate school), Justin uses what time he has (which is not much) to take the dog for walks to the park and also playing with his children, “just go bananas with my kids!” When he has a few minutes to himself, he plays games on his Nintendo Switch or his phone. He and his wife are currently working through watching the movies within the Marvel Cinematic Universe via Disney+. 

Justin shares the following parting thought: “Make the first step, and people will meet you halfway, but you have to make that first step.” 

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!