Discrimination

It is very sad that we still see discrimination happen in todays world, even prejudice!


I ran into that today when I went for my practicum interview at woods homes.
First of all, My teacher found out the placement I wanted to go was no longer taking practicum students so she said she might've found another place for me to go, but had to go for an interview. She mentioned to them that I was hearing impaired, then the lady on the phone said due to the environment they are working in, she was not sure if I would be suitable for them due to my "hearing" disability.
So I called this place on Wednesday and when I was on the phone with them to set up an interview time which was Friday, I chatted with this one lady about setting up an interview and she said yes your instructor gave you the time, I said no she only gave me the address so she said Friday at 10am, I said that will work out fine. Then she said that I am NOT guaranteed that I will get this position but it is a maybe. She also said that I was told that you have a hearing disability, and I said yes, and she said so can you hear? I was SHOCKED when she asked me this! I just said yes I can hear, then she said see you on friday and I said see you on Friday as well and then hung up. 
Like If I couldn't hear then I wouldn't be talking on the phone!
I felt like I didn't even want to go to this interview, I'd much rather attend class than to miss it, but no I wanted to prove to them that there is nothing wrong with having a deaf person working in their environment and it will not stop me! There's nothing I can do, I was born that way. Just like everyone, we are born differently, the world would be a boring place if we were all the same.
My interview today- the person who was supposed to interview me was away so someone else interviewed me, he asked me a bunch of questions and I thought it went pretty well. He said he will talk to the lady and we will call you on monday. 
Few hours later I got a call from this place saying that I didn't get the placement since the environment isn't suitable for me! I was not very happy to hear this.  It was also fishy because he said I wouldn't hear until monday and I got this call so quickly! He had to call this lady and chat with her when she was away. My guess was they already made a decision before the interview! This is prejudice! You don't judge a person until you met them in person! this means FACE to FACE! not PHONE to PHONE! especially in a professional environment! 
I emailed my practicum teacher about not getting the placement and how I felt since I was in tears that this I have not run into discrimination like this before, my hearing has never held me back. 
She told me it was because of my age, since I would be working with older clients and I wouldn't be a good fit! which I think is BULLSHIT! At first they weren't sure because of my disability now they say its because of my age! Like come on! 
She replied saying There is no room for discrimination in our lives, and this will look badly on their agency for future placements, however this isn’t the end all, be all Kiera.
One question they asked in my interview was how do you handle feedback? I said I handle it pretty well, I just want an honest answer.  And then they tell me that it was my age which is just a load of crap! they just don't want to get into trouble for not taking a person because she's deaf as it is illegal to do so.


There is nothing I can do about my hearing impairment, its just like people with different skin color. It's just sad that these days people are still treat others like this. Especially in this group home! People need to be treated equally and with respect!


I am not going to allow my hearing disability hold me back, I can prove to these people that there is nothing wrong with being hearing impaired. I did my practicum at Calgary Young Offender Centre last semester and they had no problem with me having a hearing disability, so I don't get why this place should! 


When I told my parents about this they were not very happy about it, even my mom told her coworkers they were pissed. I even told few of my classmates then they passed it along to my other classmates since I wasn't at school today and they all thought it was bullshit. Even my friends said the same thing, that its not right. They just say whoa! she's deaf, and go on and on. 




**Sorry I did not want to use any names in here so I just used he, she, him, her, etc...**