INTERVIEWS

Benjamin John Soukup, Jr.
Sioux Falls, SD
BSoukup@c-s-d.org  

1 Q: What do you do in your job?

 

A: I am responsible for a multifaceted organization. We have a multitude of programs here. We have 2,200 employees at CSD currently. Most of the activities involve the relay service, interpreting services, human resources, and housing projects.  We are responsible for SDAD activities with the recreation center, which you may have seen. That's a basic overview. There are also 13 members on the executive committee, and each of them has different responsibilities and all of them report directly to me. That's basically what I am responsible for.

 

 

2 Q:  How long have you been CEO?

 

A: I have been CEO for the past 26 years at CSD.

 

 

 

3 Q: What were you doing 25 years ago?

 

A: 25 years ago, I was working in a meat packing company and I was also president of the state Deaf organization. I was given an opportunity to establish an interpreting program for the state of South Dakota. The grant was good for 9 months. My intention was to go back to Gallaudet University, but that 9 months became 26 years here in South Dakota. We are basically here to improve communication access for Deaf and hard of hearing people in the state of South Dakota.

 

 

 

4 Q: In the beginning did CSD serve all states?

 

A: No, in the beginning, we were only for the state of South Dakota. I had no idea that it would lead to serving other states, or to other states coming out when we needed technical assistance for our relay service. We were the first state to establish a relay service back in 1975. It was just a mom and pop operation until ADA, which mandated possible partners and Sprint came into the picture. They offered the technology while we continued to offer the relay service. That's where we began serving other states.

 

 

 

5 Q: How did ADA regulations provide opportunities for CSD?

 

A: ADA mandated that phone calls must be responded to within 10 seconds, and there were requirements for fluid conversation and fast typing. We did not have the documentation or the technology with regard to the 10-second requirement. ADA forced us to look elsewhere to improve. The ADA brought two things. It brought economic power to us. Also, it made it possible for us to provide appropriate communication access to our customers. Sprint looked at us as experts in providing services to the Deaf and hard of hearing community and we looked at Sprint as the expert in technology. We partnered and, as a result, now offer the best of both worlds.

 

 

6 Q: Was Relay Services expanded to include other states?

 

A: Yes, relay is one of the reasons why we started to serve other states. Once we established a partnership with Sprint, they came to us asking if we would mind serving Wyoming. They needed relay, so we went ahead and looked into starting things there, and drew up a bid. Then North Dakota came into the picture and we now provide services there. So, we begin to expand and today we service 28 states. However, once we are in a state, we look at providing other human services, too. That is how we build partnerships with the Deaf and hard of hearing communities out there. CSD now has branch offices in several states, including North Dakota, Minnesota,

Iowa, Texas, and we also have an equipment distribution program in California. We have that service established there. So we have really expanded broadly.

 

 

7 Q: What is the core of your motivation in your life?

 

A: I think it goes back to my personal history. I am the son of Deaf parents. I have a Deaf brother and Deaf aunt. I was raised on a small farm here in South Dakota. My father absolutely loved farming, and decided to move to a different town, Mitchell, South Dakota, and establish a farm there. One summer, tornados and bad winds destroyed the farm and my father decided to go to the bank there in Mitchell to see if he could borrow money in order to keep the farm. I remember that when I was about 8 years old. The bank took one look at my father and decided that it was not possible for a Deaf man to continue farming, so my father had to give up the farm, the one that he loved, and move here to Sioux Falls. I'll always remember that time when my father was turned down by the bank because he was Deaf. It was the first time I'd seen that happen. So we moved, and a few years later he died of a heart attack. That event at the bank really became my passion and I carry that with me, remembering seeing him there at the bank when he went through that experience of rejection because of his Deafness.

 

 

8 Q: Who are your role models?

 

A: From there, I moved on to the South Dakota School for the Deaf. I graduated from there, and went on to Gallaudet University, and then returned home. I hadn't really found anything yet, but one day I read a book by Norman Peale about positive thinking. That book really changed my life, and I still look at life positively now. Anything is possible. So, that's where I started to get involved with the state association of the Deaf. I rolled up my sleeves and became actively involved. My parents had both been very active in the SDAD and so I had gone every year, and when I went, I went to see what could be done to change the lives of Deaf people in South Dakota, so then I became president of SDAD, and Gary Olson was our keynote speaker. I asked him what was blocking the success of the organization and he replied that people had no guts. If you don't have guts, you can't succeed in life.

 

 

9 Q: What is your education background?

 

A: My educational background includes graduation from the South Dakota School for the Deaf and then I went to Gallaudet University. I came back here and attended Augustana College. I've also taken several courses at places such as University of Northern Colorado, in the business school, and also from Cornell University. I received an honorary doctorate degree from Gallaudet University two years ago.

 

 

10 Q: What else, besides education, is necessary to succeed?

 

A: When people ask me about education, I say that education gives you knowledge, but for any person to succeed in life, you must have passion. I remember going to CEO training in Florida several years ago, and there was a discussion about who would be most likely to be hired, a person with a PhD, but no passion for the job, or a person with a BA, but with passion, and a desire to succeed in the job. Which do you hire, the person with the PhD but no passion, or the person with the BA, but with passion? Most of us responded that we would hire the person with the BA. For us to succeed in our corporations, we need people who are really committed to the job. That's why you see a great diversity in the employees we have working here. We hire people with a passion to succeed. That's who we are interested in working with.

 

 

11 Q: What are some of the obstacles you face?

 

A: Okay, there are several things. One would be the removal of the paternalistic view that others have about a Deaf person's ability to succeed. We want to be on a level playing field. The greatest obstacle to us is communication access. If I want to be involved with the legislature, and I attend the meeting, I have to bring an interpreter into the legislative hearings. I have to explain the role of the interpreter to those present. Sometimes they look to the interpreter to provide information and I have to remind them that if they want an opinion, they need to address me directly. It's all about educating them as to the deaf person's ability to succeed. I've been involved with the legislature as a lobbyist and have begun to make some inroads in terms of that education and have been able to build relationships that may lead to recognition of the need for access to the business world, to public services, and to education.

 

 

12 Q: what are some of the obstacles in your personal life?

 

A: Another obstacle is time. I have to give up a lot of time to attend to many things. It's frustrating when I don't have time for my family and myself. That's another obstacle I see. I have three terrific children. One goes to Gallaudet. My daughter is now a senior at RIT, and my youngest son is now playing football at O'Gorman. It was frustrating not having as much time as I wanted with them when they were growing up. However, they understand. They all understand today that what they gave up resulted in benefits and services to other people who would not have otherwise had benefits. Today, I have a wonderful relationship with my children.

 

 

13 Q: Is communication access a challenge for CSD?

 

A: Today my biggest challenge is to make sure that my hearing staff has communication access. That's my biggest challenge. In the past, we had Deaf people or Deaf staff with many frustrations in communicating with hearing people, but today it is exactly the opposite. We have many hearing staff people and I have to make sure that they have communication access. They are unprepared for the fact that so many Deaf people work here. It is the reverse of the typical experience. I have to look back in time to remember what the challenges were for communication and access. I think the biggest frustration in the past was not having TTYs or videophones. In the past, we didn't have that technology, but today we have technological advances, which make it easy. One of CSDs agendas is to look at technology and figure out what technology is available and what we can do with it.

 

We brought people like Norman Williams from Gallaudet. He has been provided free rein to come up with creative solutions. We just say go and try to find something that hasn't reached us yet. There are various corporations with limited budgets who can do that, but their funding for that purpose is limited. Here we give Norman free reign to bring in new ideas. That is what makes CSD different from other companies, like telecommunication companies where there are limited budgets and it is not a high priority to set up new platforms, but this is where we are able to give direct attention. That's one of the reasons why we bring in people with a high degree of technical skill. That's one of the reasons.

 

 

14 Q: What are some of the benefits of using videophone as apart of the Relay Service?

 

A: Studies have shown that with the videophone you are able to see the other person, including their expressions and their emotions whereas with other systems such as the TTY, fax, or pager, there are limitations. Studies also show that when communicating through the videophone, there is a great deal of information passed back and forth, more than would be with the TTY, fax, or pager. We are now entering into this communication. CSD is the first company to establish video relay services. We have a technology expert from New York. They came and developed a new platform that allows a Deaf person to use the video relay service as an alternative. We hope to start marketing this nationwide in the next month.

 

 

15 Q: What is the future for CSD?

 

A: It's an exciting world and now CSD is moving up to the corporation level and we will be working directly with many key people in the corporate world. We have not had any difficult situations working with them. Really, we have had wonderful relationships. For example, I work with many Vice Presidents at Sprint, such as the Vice President of Operations, and I have worked with the president of a local television station here. If anyone wants to succeed, relationships must be established first. Too often people think that they can just write a grant and send it in. The bottom line is you have to start by developing relationships with people and work together before you can develop any projects. They have to know who you are. They have to be familiar with what CSD is and I have to be familiar with him and what his organization is trying to accomplish. In that way, we can figure out how we can benefit from each other and how we can make his world and our world a better place and how we can service our clients better, and how he can service his clients better. That's the tradeoff and that's the bottom line.

 

That's how we succeed. And we don't have to be limited to the corporate world. We have the government to work with and customers to work with and we have wonderful relationships. We work with people in the government on a first name basis. They come and spend several days with us and we go to see them and spend time with them. We get involved with community organizations. Really I don't see barriers. If there are barriers, it is often the person himself who has created them and needs to change them through education about how to make our world accessible to others and how to make their world accessible to us. It needs to be a learning process.

 

 

16 Q: Does CSD have competitors?

 

A: Yes, we have plenty of competitors. Some of our competitors are other Deaf organizations out there. Some of our competitors are other relay services. We have many other corporations that compete for the same service. So yes, we do have competition.

 

 

17 Q: How does CSD maintain its edge in competition?

 

A: We stay on top by being smart, by seeing what we can do with pricing, by looking at how we can make our services effective, by looking at how we can prove that we provide better service. For example, we have people here who are the ones who are experts in providing services to the Deaf so we need to sell ourselves to convince people to buy from us.

 

 

18 Q: Are there barriers toward achieving a better quality of life as a Deaf person?

 

A: Yes, yes there are. There are many things that I want to do. We are hoping that we can develop a platform where someday a Deaf person can go to a place like a bank and when he finds that he needs to communicate he can have interpreting services at the push of a button, right there. Or with the push of a button have some kind of communication access. Or someday, we are hoping that we can leave a message using video access or that someday you will be able to walk into any store and be able to order something without being faced with any communication barriers. Someday we hope you can turn to any TV channel and not be frustrated by lack of captioning or lack of high quality service. These are things that we need to pursue. There are many needs all across America and also internationally.

 

When I served as president of NAD, I went to Austria as a representative and saw people from many countries there. It made me glad to be living in America. Look at India where they say the cost of educating one Deaf child is $75 a year, and yet they need money. Consider what it is like to be a Deaf child in India. Or when I went to the airport, I saw a hearing person sitting with a Deaf person and when I asked about this, I learned that in that country they require Deaf people to have an escort whenever they travel. I saw so much oppression in this world. I hope that I will be able to volunteer some time to go to other countries and provide services and make the world a better place for every Deaf and hard of hearing individual, make it a better place to live.

 

 

19 Q: Have you considered running for public office?

 

A: Right now, as a non-profit organization, we are restricted by IRS regulations with regard to contributions to candidates, but we are moving into a different model. We will have a business model and a human service model, and we will be able to directly help Deaf candidates who are running for office. For example, I myself ran for the House of Representatives in 1980. I lost by a few votes and I only had two months to campaign. If I had more time, I think I would have come out better. I would have won that seat. I haven't gone back to that because CSD had needed my attention and I also have focused on NAD, but I hope some day to go back to that in order to get that experience and also to provide other young Deaf persons with an example of what they can do.

 

I am sure there are a number of Deaf persons now in the U.S. trying to run for political office. Kelby Brick is now running for city council in Greenbelt, I believe. We need more of that and when we have more individuals like that I am sure we can demonstrate that Deaf people can be on the same playing field as anyone else and need not be diminished by their hearing loss or by not having the same rights. We can now come to the field and play without a doubt and the question of whether or not a Deaf person can run for office will not be raised anymore.

 

 

20 Q: What kind of learner are you?

 

A: I'm a fast learner. Yes, when I see opportunity, and people who know me here know that when I see any opportunity coming my way I don't let it pass me by, but find a way to have it aimed in my direction. I look for any opportunity that can be used here.

 

 

 

21 Q: What is one of CSD's goals?

 

A: Right now, the goal is to have CSD move into the corporate playing field. We want to remove the non-profit status and become a corporation because we feel by doing so, we can bring many more business opportunities to this office as well as provide more opportunities for Deaf and hard of hearing people in those areas.

 

 

22 Q: Why are you located in South Dakota?

 

A: Yes, the reason I stay in South Dakota is because this is a place where you can sit back and think about the next direction that you want to go in, and if I were not in South Dakota, maybe I would be so busy with activities that I would not have time to sit back and ponder what the right thing to do for CSD is and what the next move should be, and what the feeling of our customers is about CSD. If we were in another area, we might be too stressed, and stressed is probably not the right word, but I think that stress is an influence of the environment where you are located. Here in South Dakota, we are in such a neutral place and we can think about what DC needs, what California needs, what Texas needs. We feel this location provides balance.

 

 

23 Q: What advice do you have for a young Deaf person?

 

A: I would say that it is important to grab all of the education that you possibly can.  Learn to read, learn to write, visit with Deaf role models and ask them what their experiences have been like. Ask them what they feel you would benefit from. One person alone is not enough to have influence. It takes many role models to shape a young person's life. I would say grab all of the education you can get and follow your passion.

 

 

 

24 Q: What drives your passion?

 

A: I think the staff here really drives my passion. We give them the opportunity to be creative. We give them the opportunity to develop. The best thing I can see is someone coming to me and saying, "Ben, I've got an idea." I join in on the enthusiasm when I see a staff person wanting to develop something and make it a successful project. I feel successful because the staff person is successful. I think my energy comes from the staff and from my family and from the people I work with, even if they are the staff of competitors. They provide me with all of my energy. Someone is feeding fuel to my fire everyday. They are people that I like to have around and people that I love very much, and that is what I have been saying to my staff. We are not here to benefit ourselves. If we were here for that reason, we would all be quarreling.

 

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