Keith Clark is a DeafBlind queer white cisgender male, who grew up in Eden Prairie, Minnesota. His family is all DeafBlind or Deaf! Keith lived in Minnesota from birth to 1996 and returned for two years 2008-2010. “I’ve lived in a lot of places! Minnesota, North Carolina, DC, Alaska, Florida, California, and currently I call Seattle home.”
Keith attended Como Park Elementary School until the fourth grade before transferring to Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf (MSAD) from fifth grade to ninth grade. His family then moved to North Carolina, where he finished high school at North Carolina School for the Deaf. He obtained his bachelor's degree in psychology from Gallaudet University. Upon graduation from Gallaudet, Keith worked as tutor, florist, caregiver, mental health technician at a residential facility, residential educator, and family and children case manager. He also worked at Volunteers of America in Minnesota as well.
He went back to Gallaudet University to study mental health counseling for his master’s degree. Keith landed in San Francisco for an internship which turned into a five year career as a licensed professional clinical counselor. “I often say that deaf school and Gallaudet was where my deaf identity blossomed. It’s in San Francisco where my queer identity flourished. My DeafBlind identity thrived when I moved to Seattle to become the first DeafBlind director of DeafBlind program at a nonprofit and remained for five years.” During the COVID lockdown Keith was put on standby status for four months. “What did I do? I slept a lot, spent way too much time on social media, and eventually started to learn more about opportunities that align with my passions for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, and accessibility.” He joined LinkedIn to learn and network with professionals with the same passions and roles. He also took a DEI certificate course at Cornell University and obtained a Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Content certificate (CPACC). When a position became available at T-Mobile’s Accessibility Team Keith took a chance. “And here I am three years in as Associate Accessibility Relationship Manager.”
His primary focus is managing the National DeafBlind Outreach Program within the segment marketing team. He’s based out of T-Mobile’s headquarters in Bellevue, Washington. In his role, Keith creates innovative marketing and strategic relationships with the DeafBlind community through education; trainings one-on-one and in groups; presenting workshops; and sponsoring and exhibiting at events and conferences.” It’s never a dull moment and it is exciting when we reach our communities to provide accessible telecommunications solutions.” He loves working at T-Mobile because the company culture and values align with his, especially for DEI and accessibility. “There’s about 40 deaf, hard of hearing, and DeafBlind employees on my team, so I get to work with a wide range of diverse members of our community on a daily basis. I get to meet so many people all over the nation. I cannot ask for a better job, honestly.”
“No jobs I ever had were perfect,” says Keith. His first job was at Old Navy where he applied to be a seasonal summer sales associate but was offered an overnight stocking position. He met with the hiring manager and explained that he applied for a sales associate position and was confident that he could do the job, and that he could not drive at night so the overnight stocking position was not a good fit. Luckily the hiring manager also had night blindness and immediately offered Keith the sales associate position. “Soon after, several other Gap Inc stores hired deaf people across the city. This is an excellent example of standing up for yourself, advocating for your accessibility needs, finding an ally, and creating change.”
In Keith’s current role, the most challenging part is finding interpreters, especially those skilled in protactile. “There’s a serious shortage across the nation. It’s especially challenging while navigating environments and workplaces with people who don’t sign.” He meets with people virtually and in person everyday, and with the widest range of communication needs. “How do I work? I have CDIs (certified deaf interpreters) and DIs (deaf interpreters) and/or hearing interpreters on virtual meetings. I have in-person interpreters when I meet with people in person. I can tell you that I’ve missed opportunities due to lack of interpreters. There are no easy or quick solutions to the shortage of interpreters. The glass ceiling is also a real barrier that we as a disabled community know too well. I can feel the ceiling right at the top of my head. Shattering it will take hard work, perseverance, speaking up, finding allies, and creating change. One crack at a time!”
Keith shares some advice from a colleague he’d like to share that forward: “One wise colleague once shared that growing in your career happens when you grab every opportunity there is. Keep learning, be curious, dream big, and turn ‘can’t’ to ‘can.’”
Outside of work, when Keith doesn’t have to snooze his alarm a hundred times for work, he loves to sleep in and as much as he can. He also enjoys cooking but loves eating the most. He reads more than 60 books a year on average, mostly mystery and thrillers.” I still spend too much time on Facebook!” He fills in the rest of his time with travels to visit family and friends. “I especially love warm weather and spending time in the sun and by the pools, which is why you’ll rarely find me visiting Minnesota in the winter months!”
In parting, Keith shares the following quote by Paulo Coelho. “When you say yes, make sure you don’t say no to yourself.” He shares his interpretation: “I take this to mean that you should not do anything that will compromise or sacrifice your well being and values. It’s often hard for us as disabled people to place ourselves above everything in this ableist world especially in workplaces. It can be difficult yet so important to find courage to advocate for our rights to exist and thrive personally and professionally.”
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!
