Answer to: How Far Would You Go to Accommodate non-Verbal Colleague?

I would like to point out that, in many places, the behavior you're describing is against company policy at a minimum and possibly even illegal. How would you approach it? I am not against DEI (diversity, inclusion or whatever), but do you think at some point someone has to draw a line? Or do you think I am in the wrong to think that it affects the team's productivity? This isn't DEI. You don't indicate your jurisdiction, but many jurisdictions require companies to make reasonable accommodations for people's disabilities (assuming that the reasonable accommodations enable them to perform the essential job duties). See, for example, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) in the United States. Based on what you wrote here, it sounds like he's perfectly capable of doing DevOps if people communicate with him on Slack or other written form, which sure sounds like him being able to perform the essential job duties with reasonable accommodation. I would like to emphasize that compliance with these regulations is not optional. You must comply with these laws whether you like it or not. You can't simply decide to ignore them because you find them inconvenient. I am trying my best to go around him as much as possible Deliberately bypassing him because of his disability is arguably creating a hostile work environment for him and potentially puts the company out of compliance with mandatory regulations. Don't do that. But my boss keeps insisting he has to be sort of the gatekeeper/approver of production deployments etc. So, your boss explicitly told you multiple times work with him and you're deliberately not doing it? That's not a great look, especially for someone who's only been there for 6 weeks. What do you think is the best way forward? Should I just suck it up, and learn sign language (in my own time) to be inclusive? Those aren't the only two choices. You could, for example, use Slack. Also, is there some specific reason you can't learn at least basic sign language? I'm learning German in my own time because many people at my company speak it. While I'm hardly fluent, I can at least hold a basic conversation, and many people appreciate that I'm at least making an effort. If you feel that it would help you in your job, you could potentially even ask your boss to send you to training for this.