Verbal communication skills are an essential function of a “performer” position in a photography studio, and where the position had to communicate with customers, many of them children, a deaf worker who was unable to effectively do so was not qualified for the job the Tenth Circuit decides, rejecting the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s claim that the studio had violated the Americans with Disabilities Act in reprimanding and subsequently terminating the employee for her performance deficiencies.

The Court notes that the company employs performers with four areas of responsibility: customer intake, sales, portrait photography, and laboratory duties. The deaf worker could only communicate with photo subjects by writing notes, gesturing, and miming, which the Court finds was often difficult as the photo subjects were usually young children. Given the short attention span of the subjects and her inability to establish rapport with them, the Court says the worker was unable to fully perform three of the four duties of a performer, affirming a lower court’s decision in favor of the company. EEOC v. The Picture People