RNID: For deaf and hard of hearing people.

You don't have to tell any employer that you have a hearing loss. It is entirely your own decision.

However:

  • you must tell an employer about a disability if it might present a health and safety risk to yourself or other work colleagues
  • if you sign a declaration saying that you do not have a disability when in fact you do, this may affect your job at a later date
  • if you don't mention a disability while you are at work, but you are later dismissed for a reason relating to your disability, you may have difficulty succeeding in any legal complaint under the DDA. An employer does not have to make reasonable adjustments for a disabled applicant or employee if the employer does not know (and could not reasonably be expected to know) that the applicant or employee is disabled and is likely to need a reasonable adjustment.

So if you do not let your employer know about it, they will not be able to consider whether they can make any adjustments to help you in the workplace.

Examples of reasonable adjustments include:

  • communication support, for example, a sign language interpreter or lipspeaker
  • equipment, for example an amplified telephone or textphone.

Read about your rights in the workplace