I am a finance professional with a disability. Q&A.

What the title says.

I've been on this website for quite a while now and having just finished business school, decided to actively post again. I don't know if this topic would be of help to anyone, but I know I would've found it useful so putting this out there for anyone else who may find value in it.

Feel free to ask me anything you're curious about and I'll try my best to answer candidly. It could be about recruiting, life on the job, MBA life, disclosing a disability, asking for accommodations, handling people's perceptions... whatever you're curious about.

My background:

I am a Chartered Accountant from a developing country and worked there for 4 years in equity research and private equity (read how I networked my way into PE through Facebook here). 2 years ago I relocated to North America to do my MBA from a pretty well-regarded school. During this time, I got involved in promoting accessibility and launched a not-for-profit organization providing a rather niche value.

My efforts in the accessibility space put me in touch with a few very senior professionals in the industry who either have a disability or are involved in the space. One of those people helped me land my current job, which I will start shortly. I'll be working in a role that can best be described as corporate development for one of the world's largest asset managers.

I have a partial hearing impairment and a form of partial paralysis in one hand, although the two are completely unrelated.

Ask me anything!

 

Hey, thanks for posting this. I have incredible respect for people who overcome odds and do great things, and you seem to be no exception.

I'm curious, as you stated above, how did you handle people's perception of your disability, especially pertaining to interviewing and on the job. Did you try to use it as a means of demonstrating your motivated/hard working mentality (which im sure you have) or did you just disclose it and move on? In other words, does it play a big role in your "story" or is it just a mention that you assure people wont be an issue?

Dayman?
 
Most Helpful

Hey, sorry for the late response, I was away for the weekend. This may sound like stating the obvious, but the thing with hearing impairment is that when you ask someone to repeat themselves on two or three different occasions in a coffee chat/interview, often the person's unconscious perception could be that I'm not very sharp - even if I have told them that I have a hearing impairment.

To counter this risk, I am always over-prepared to make sure I can intelligently talk about, say, the company, recent deals, the market, etc. In fact my girlfriend sometimes makes fun of me for the level of my over-preparation haha. To give you an extreme example, if I'm going to a breakfast or lunch meeting, I check out the restaurant's menu beforehand because sometimes the server may ask me a follow up question, and in a noisy restaurant I may not understand the question the first time around. I want to avoid even that risk, so I look through the menu beforehand to see if they may ask me my preference for the side. This may sound ridiculous to some but it's worked well for me on more than a few occasions.

On the job, I suppose I tend to work harder than most because I need to prove that even if I have to ask a CEO to repeat himself, it's not because I'm not smart enough to get it the first time around, but because I couldn't hear him in the first place. When there's dozens of other people out there who can hear that question the first time around, I need to make sure that my bosses see the added value in having me on that table.

This response turned out a bit longer than I expected lol, but I hope it answers your question well.

Move along, nothing to see here.
 

Props on working through your disability and the courage to talk about it.

Is the hearing impairment something that has progressed in the past couple of years? I say past couple of years, because if this were something you were born with, it seems your other ear would be highly sensitive and you might even be accustomed to subconsciously reading lips (or consciously).

Have you thought about a hearing aid?

"If you always put limits on everything you do, physical or anything else, it will spread into your work and into your life. There are no limits. There are only plateaus, and you must not stay there, you must go beyond them." - Bruce Lee
 

Just wanted to say as someone else in the financial industry with a disability. your post is truly inspiring. Your work ethic is amazing and you've attended a well-regarded graduate school, along with landed a highly sought after job in corporate development. Hats off to you and much success in your future!

 

I know a solid VC guy with hearing impairment. I talked to him on the phone a few times before we met live, and I had no idea. He’s super sharp, but he didn’t invest in my company so boo to that. Once I found out about his hearing I only respected him more.

 

Proud of you. Having volunteered a lot during university and immersing myself into projects in regards to ways to assist people with disabilities, I am grateful of how much growth there has been throughout the years with the reduced stigma and community support there is. In fact, I'll be presenting to a university soon about the issues people with HIV/AIDS face and the rights they have around the workplace. All in all, props to you and keep up the work, and continue supporting people in need because we can't do it alone :)

 

Used to work with a lawyer who had a very bad stutter which would intensify dramatically under certain kinds of pressure. Always respected him for pushing through it, and for being extremely diligent and helpful. I realize now, maybe his diligence and willingness to help stemmed from his desire to prove himself.

Hats off to you, and congratulations on the new job!

Array
 

I've had the chance to learn about diversity hiring programs intimately since launching the not-for-profit and have partnered with the diversity teams of some very well-known companies over the last couple years. With that background:

  • Disability-specific hiring programs rarely, if ever, place in front office or "high finance" roles. It's unfortunate but nearly all disability-specific programs are for entry level support roles or for front line staff in the service sector.
  • The quality of diversity hiring programs heavily depends upon the company, and I truly can't emphasize this enough. I know a bank which goes out of the way to proactively find and hire qualified diversity candidates. It may be hard to believe, but they aren't doing this to just fill a quota but they truly believe in the pitch they're selling. And this extends beyond just the diversity teams to across the organization.
  • On the other hand, more often than not the diversity programs are a check in the box, to show that hey we care about diversity too. But the culture and support system in those places suck, and that's very easy to figure out after a few conversations.

In summary I'd say minority programs depend from company to company and I'd do some thorough research before relying on one.

Move along, nothing to see here.
 

First, congrats on all of your hard work. My parents are both hearing impaired, non-genetic, and I have witnessed first hand the amount of work and determination it takes to succeed.

Secondly, can you talk more about the not-for-profit you launched promoting accessibility? I have seen a few items about adapting speech technology, like the Amazon Echo and Google Home, to pair up with a video screen that can be used by hard of hearing/deaf individuals. It seems like a really cool technology that can proactively serve a need that will arise in the coming years.

 

Props to your parents, and to you. I imagine your life growing up would've been a little bit different from most people.

Unfortunately I can't share any details about the not-for-profit without disclosing my identity. Even though we're still small, our value prop is unique and it'll be very easy to identify.

Re. accessible tech, there's been some interesting progress but so far hearing impairment hasn't got as much attention as vision impairment (think Microsoft's Seeing AI app). Voice to text technology is still surprisingly unreliable for using as assistive tech. The one silver lining is the OTC hearing aid law set to go into effect soon, which will be a game changer for hearing aids and completely reshape the industry. I'm excited for that one to pan out.

Move along, nothing to see here.
 

your disability could actually be a benefit in finance/Wall Street. so much bullshit thrown around, to not be able to hear the nonsense could be helpful.

of course, I'm only half kidding.

best of luck to you.

 

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Move along, nothing to see here.

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