Breaking barriers: celebrating AAPI month

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, a commemoration that pays tribute to the rich culture and many contributions and influences of Asian, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islanders in America. Throughout the month we have hosted various programming and events to highlight the diverse stories and achievements of our AAPI crew members. In this crew spotlight, we sat down with Brandon C., an Application Engineer to talk through his experience at Vanguard and the support he’s received as a member of both the AAPI and deaf communities.

Brandon: I am deaf and have worked at Vanguard for 12 years (time flies!). Before I joined Vanguard, I had a temporary job at another financial company. Then, a friend of mine told me about Vanguard. They said it was a great company and the work environment was very friendly. I started as a developer in 2012. Today, I am an Application Engineer working on a team that is focused on building a custom and unified investing experience for our clients.

Brandon: I was born deaf. I am the only deaf person in my entire family. When I was young, my family was watching Jeopardy on TV and my mom started calling my name. She thought that I was ignoring her, but I couldn’t hear her. So, they turned the volume down on the TV, started clapping and calling my name and I still didn’t respond at all. My mom took me to the doctor and that was when we found out that the part of my ears, called the cochlea, that produces nerve impulse that respond to sound vibrations from ear drum hadn’t fully developed so that is the reason for my complete deafness.

Also, English is not my first language. In fact, I learned American Sign Language (ASL) first. My parents put me speech pathology program hoping I could speak orally, but it became hard for me since I couldn’t fully understand how to pronounce words, even if I wore hearing aids.

Brandon: When I first started working here, there was a lack of subtitles/captions on videos, especially mandatory training videos. I had to request for access for interpreters to interpret them for me. Now, crew can ask to have the same interpreters come in from 9 – 5 or whenever is best for their schedules. This helps me so much with team communication, especially when working remotely! Vanguard has since made major improvements in providing deaf accessibility support through things like adding captions to videos. I am hoping to see even more improvements in the future!

Brandon: To me, Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month means remembering our own history, appreciating our culture, and respecting the cultures of others. My parents, who moved from Hong Kong, taught me about Chinese culture and their experiences living there. I love everything about my heritage: the food, the language, the history, and the culture. One year during college break, my father and I took a trip to Hong Kong. The culture shock hit me, and I never expected Hong Kong to be so different from America. My father would tell me stories about places he had gone as a kid, and I was even able to meet more relatives. I had the opportunity to really get a stronger understanding of my family history and culture and appreciate it so much more now.

Brandon: I have enjoyed working at Vanguard for a long time —12 years. The diverse and inclusive culture here at Vanguard has been pretty amazing. I don’t think there are many companies that provide the same experience as Vanguard. Vanguard has provided support for deaf accessibility to make my job easier and I am very happy that they did. Without that support, I would not be here.

When I connect and engage with diverse crew, I can see different perspectives other than my own. The benefit of a diverse workplace is that we can work together and share many different ideas and perspectives. This can bring a lot of innovation and creativity.

Brandon: After sharing my experiences at work, it allowed other crew members to gain a stronger understanding about the struggles that people with disabilities experience daily. People don’t know how you are feeling or what those experiences are like unless you share them. So, sharing those struggles can encourage other crew to really try to make the workplace more equitable and inclusive for people with disabilities and other underserved communities.