# suggest a job for a mute **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 30, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504 "2018-08-30T03:24:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![pabstist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e99b99/32.png) [@pabstist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pabstist)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/1 "2018-08-30T03:24:44Z")
What is a good job for somebody who can’t speak? Last March I had a total laryngectomy. So I have no vocal chords and cannot talk. I do have a robot voice translator, but nobody can ever understand what I am trying to say. And writing everything down just plain sucks. I’m only 45 years old, so I have plenty of years ahead to make some cash. Right now I’m on disability, which actually pays more than my last job I had for 10 years! Which was substitute teaching. Can’t do that anymore. My background is in teaching. I taught high school and college for a little while. Certified to teach in two states, which I never will be able to do. I have an MFA in painting, for the sole purpose of teaching at the college level. Is it possible to teach without ever speaking? My wife is a teacher, and says no. Love paying off those student loans for a career I’ll never have. So any ideas? I’m sure they’re jobs for the silent, but how does the interview go? I’d prefer something with no human interaction, since co-workers love to hang out and gossip. Any other mutes onboard here? ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/2 "2018-08-30T03:28:01Z")
I’m not mute, but I can and do go many days without talking to anybody at work. I work 2nd shift at a datacenter. Most people are gone a few hours into my shift. And anytime an issue comes up, it is handled via email or text. ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/3 "2018-08-30T03:44:20Z")
How are you at writing? Perhaps you could write or edit teaching material from your discipline, such as textbooks. ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/4 "2018-08-30T03:51:34Z")
Teach online. Check with online universities and training companies. Online chat-type help desk, but that’s probably going to pay in tumbleweeds. Learn sign language and teach art at a school for the deaf. ---
**Author:** ![Beckdawrek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beckdawrek/32/3647_2.png) [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/5 "2018-08-30T04:35:11Z")
My deaf cousin worked in a bank. She did some kinda filing or accounting upstairs. She never spoke to anyone, (sign language) but her immediate supervisor. You sound more creative than that. Library work. It doesn’t pay well. I volunteer at a library, putting up books and putting the card catalogue on computer. I rarely speak to anyone there, except the 2 cats. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/6 "2018-08-30T04:36:09Z")
Since the OP is looking for advice, let’s move this to IMHO. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/7 "2018-08-30T06:05:42Z")
I just can’t say what would be a good occupation. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/8 "2018-08-30T06:12:32Z")
Warehouse work including training and safety. Seriously. The guy who taught me and a lot of others PIT/forklift was a deaf mute and he did a damn fine job between the prepared powerpoint and his skill at showing us exactly what to do and what we weren’t doing so well. Management wouldn’t be out of the question some places but ours relies on radio communication too much for it to work here. ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/9 "2018-08-30T06:30:49Z")
Uber/Lyft driver, perhaps. I’ve gotten a ride and before being picked up the app informed of the driver’s inability to hear. That was pretty cool. ---
**Author:** ![Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/channing_idaho_banks/32/250_2.png) [@Channing\_Idaho\_Banks](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Channing_Idaho_Banks)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/10 "2018-08-30T07:57:29Z")
Buddhist monk? ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/11 "2018-08-30T09:02:20Z")
> [@pabstist](#): > > What is a good job for somebody who can’t speak? Last March I had a total laryngectomy. So I have no vocal chords and cannot talk. I do have a robot voice translator, but nobody can ever understand what I am trying to say. And writing everything down just plain sucks. Can you speak sign language? You could be a translator for the deaf. Or be a teacher of deaf people. Way back, I used to work with a mute architect. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 9:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/12 "2018-08-30T09:14:45Z")
I’ve known deaf mutes who were proofreaders. At no time did their disability interfere with their ability. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 11:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/13 "2018-08-30T11:53:12Z")
Amazon warehouse picker, mail sorter or carrier, DMV Supervisor and SDMB Moderator. 😉 Simultaneously! ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/14 "2018-08-30T11:56:24Z")
> [@panache45](#): > > I’ve known deaf mutes who were proofreaders. At no time did their disability interfere with their ability. In this vein also consider indexing. But proofreading and indexing are lonely jobs. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/15 "2018-08-30T12:02:12Z")
> [@Quartz](#): > > Can you speak sign language? If not, this would be an ideal time to learn. ---
**Author:** ![Emergency911](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/43a26b/32.png) [@Emergency911](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emergency911)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/16 "2018-08-30T13:03:05Z")
Shot in the dark here, but since you appear to have an affinity towards art and painting, what about a career in an art museum in the restoration area? I remember getting a tour where there were people restoring/cleaning/repairing various art pieces; it was extremely quiet in the room. ---
**Author:** ![Slash1972](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slash1972/32/6461_2.png) [@Slash1972](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slash1972)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/17 "2018-08-30T13:30:31Z")
Mime? ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/18 "2018-08-30T16:50:08Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Amazon warehouse picker, mail sorter or carrier, DMV Supervisor and SDMB Moderator. 😉 > > Simultaneously! Other than that last ------- you been peeking in my window, Flaco? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/19 "2018-08-30T16:57:24Z")
I have an acquaintance who graded tests for a living when his son was born and he needed to work from home. Not exactly sure what school or agency he worked for…they were SAT tests or something along that line. Essays, yaknow? ---
**Author:** ![slalexan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47c2d/32.png) [@slalexan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/slalexan)\ **Post date:** [August 30, 2018, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504/20 "2018-08-30T17:59:00Z")
My sister and her family are deaf. Her husband works in a factory and does ok. But, given your background, keep teaching! Learning sign language isn’t easy but it’s a fun and rich language and you’ll be able to help deaf children learn. My sister had multitudes of problems with her one deaf child not getting a quality education in the deaf school due to a lack of teachers. So, please do that! Otherwise, teaching online seems to be another great place to look. One more thing to think about - Have you tried other speaking aids? There are a large variety out there that may work better than what you have. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/suggest-a-job-for-a-mute/820504.md?page=2)