Let me start by stating that I understand the difficulties you face. While not profoundly deaf, I am legally deaf -- just over the threshold.

When I first graduated college, I had a lot of concerns about how I could be hired. The first thing I noticed is that almost the entirety of companies that reached out to me about resumes I filled out made initial contact through email. It made it very easy to be up front with them. Although I had some hesitations at first, I felt there was much understanding from recruiting firms, with some of them actually switching me to other recruiters who knew sign language.

More importantly, I realized that any company that would look down upon my condition I did not want to work for (besides the fact that they were breaking a federal law).

So my advice to you is: get it out early. If they are going to be discriminatory when they find out, wouldn't you rather know that before wasting your time? If you would prefer to keep it hidden as long as possible, I would tell them before the first time that I had to speak with them on the phone or in a video interview -- surprises can be a warning sign for recruiters. This can be as simple as requesting closed captioning for a video interview or letting the recruiter/point of contact know that you will be using VRS. They should be able to figure it out, and if they are decent people (many recruiters I've met are), it will not move the needle for them. In fact, many tech companies are currently working to diversify their work force and right or wrong, you will be a checkbox for some middle manager somewhere.

Remember, we are hired for our abilities not our disabilities :).

Let me start by stating that I understand the difficulties you face. While not profoundly deaf, I am legally deaf -- just over the threshold.

When I first graduated college I had a lot of concerns about how I could be hired. The first thing I noticed is that almost the entirety of companies that reached out to me about resumes I filled out made initial contact through email. It made it very easy to be up front with them. Although I had some hesitations at first, I felt there was much understanding from recruiting firms -- some of them even switched me to other recruiters who knew sign language.

More importantly, I realized that any company that would look down upon my condition I did not want to work for (besides the fact that they were breaking a federal law).

So my advice to you is: get it out early. If they are going to be discriminatory when they find out, wouldn't you rather know that before wasting your time? If you would prefer to keep it hidden as long as possible, I would tell them before the first time that I had to speak with them on the phone or in a video interview -- surprises can be a warning sign for recruiters. This can be as simple as requesting closed captioning for a video interview or letting the recruiter/point of contact know that you will be using VRS. They should be able to figure it out and if they are decent people (many recruiters I've met are) it will not move the needle for them. In fact, many tech companies are currently working to diversify their work force and right or wrong, you will be a checkbox for some middle manager somewhere.

Remember, we are hired for our abilities not our disabilities :).