Salley, hired into the yard in spring 2016, completed what’s known as “Category 3 User Shop Crane Operator Training.” Salley’s team refurbishes circuit breakers as part of overhauls of nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers. Cranes are used to bring the breakers in and out of crates that are transported from the waterfront to his shop, and back when the work is finished.
Put simply, Salley, is known for having a great attention to detail in what is very detail-oriented work.
“He’s laser-focused,” said Chris Kealiher, a fellow mechanic and electrician in shop 51 who’s worked with Salley the past two years or so. “He retains everything. He points out mistakes. He’s one hell of a worker.”
Kealiher believes that rather than a disability, Salley has an enhancement in his deafness: he’s able to fully focus, fully concentrate, even when a flurry of activity is playing out in the work environment. “He doesn’t have the distractions most people have,” he said.
With support of his coworkers and leaders in the shipyard, Salley, one of about 10 employees at the shipyard who is deaf, got a path forward when he pursued crane operation. New protocols were developed.
He had help from Marlene Bell, the shipyard’s first full-time American Sign Language Interpreter. For more than 15 years, Bell, hired last April at the shipyard, has served as an interpreter. Her parents were both deaf and she learned sign language from an early age. Her work not only includes helping Salley and others who are deaf but also to help recruit and hire those who cannot hear. “We were able to break down those barriers,” Salley said.
When Bell is not around, he and coworkers often chat over a device similar to a laptop, typing to each other. But something else has happened: he’s been pleasantly surprised at the receptiveness of others to learn sign language.
Each week, he spends a few minutes with a few of his coworkers, like Kealiher, teaching them some signs. Every little bit helps — Kealiher even noted that he recently used some of what Salley taught him on a chance encounter with someone who is deaf at a mobile phone store.
“It’s a friendly, great group,” Salley said. “They’re willing to communicate with me.”
Even still, Kealiher said he was “pretty shocked” when Salley pursued the crane qualification. But he believed he could do it. For one thing, there’s always two people operating them, and in Salley’s case, they’d just be more attuned to eye contact with him to ensure he could be quickly notified of changing conditions in the shop.