Alissa Pavich delivers message of patience and understanding to the hearing world

The Faces of TELUS profiles team members from different walks of life who help make TELUS a great organization and, together, reflect the communities where we live and work. In our eighth story in this series, we shine the spotlight on Alissa Pavich of Business Transformation and Technology Operations. Alissa has been profoundly deaf since birth. Yet, Alissa is not limited by what she cannot hear in a hearing world. With persistence, a positive attitude and open mind, she is pursuing her personal passions and blazing a new career trail at TELUS. From a very young age, Alissa learned how to communicate through lip reading and speech, then learned to sign at 21. During m y childhood, I was always very independent and knew that people communicated by speaking, says Alissa. My parents always focused on language development and showed me how to make sounds when I was little. Her determination and the strong support of her family enabled her to be a fully integrated student in her local school, attend Langara College and join TELUS in 1998. For nine years, Alissa was a mail machine operator in the document service centre in Richmond, B.C. When the centre closed in 2007, Alissas future at TELUS was up in the air. After seven months in a temporary position, Alissa changed course and joined the project management team in Infrastructure Operations. Charting a new career course in IT I am thankful to TELUS for moving me into information technology, which was something I didnt know anything about. It leverages my education and some of my natural creativity, and I am not limited by my disability, Alissa says. In January, Alissa was promoted to the position of project coordinator. I love it because its so challenging and involves new business technologies, she says, beaming. Every day, Im learning something new. Her role involves a range of responsibilities, including working with project managers to resolve issues and remove roadblocks, and setting up and tracking processes for deliverables. In a job that involves regular contact with many team members, Alissa relies heavily on email and Communicator because her cochlear implant does not allow her to hear voices clearly over the phone, in group situations or noisy environments. However, a new service, Video Relay Service (VRS), gives her a better opportunity to participate fully in group discussions.

New video service bridges the communications gap VRS enables deaf and hard-of-hearing customers to place and receive calls using their first language, American Sign Language (ASL), and with the help of a sign language interpreter. The service is a significant improvement from the current relay service in which customers use a Teletypewriter (also known as TTY) to type a message to a relay agent who then reads it to the hearing person. TELUS Operator Services was granted the right to trial VRS for one year after presenting the service to the CRTC in 2008. TELUS is the only company in Canada to propose a trial and the first to offer the service. The CRTC will use information gathered from our trial to determine if it will pursue a permanent model for VRS across Canada. Alissa recently had VRS installed in her home. It is wonderful to see TELUS offering this new form of communication. Its truly helping deaf and hearing-impaired people to communicate. At the moment, Im working on the National Server Inventory Audit. Ive been using VRS to attend conference calls and one-on-one meetings with the project team. I find it so useful and feel more engaged with the team and project. I love it! Alissa adds. At work, it has eliminated the communication barrier for Alissa on conference calls and regular phone calls, says her supporting manager Tim Richards. Imagine how exciting it would be to make your first phone call in a world where most people take it for granted. Its life altering. Last week, we used it for the first time during a team meeting. The funniest comment from one team member was thats not Alissas voice. Organized, meticulous and funny Tim values Alissas contributions to the team . She is very organized and meticulous, which makes her a great project coordinator. Plus, she has an awesome sense of humour. As with other team members, Tim usually communicates with Alissa via email, instant messages and face-to-face conversations. Alissa gave me the best advice shortly after we met, adds Tim. She said to ask each person what works best for them. Like all of us, each deaf and hearing-impaired person is unique and you need to be aware of their individual needs to communicate effectively. During her spare time, Alissa has drawn on her design skills to produce a line of greeting cards and wedding invitations. She also enjoys creating scrapbooks and has shared her know-how as a demonstrator and instructor of scrapbooking techniques and 3D projects. As well, Alissa loves the outdoors and active living. During the summer, she bikes, hikes, swims and camps. In her community and workplace, Alissa is a champion for patience, kindness and understanding. She encourages other deaf and hearing-impaired people to learn to communicate in different ways, including American Sign Language and oralism (speech). Her message to hearing people is simple. Listen and have patience. We all need to appreciate the process that a deaf or hearing impaired person has gone through to learn to understand speech and speak without hearing. - Michelle Gagn