Advice wanted for situation at work created by hearing problems
TLDR: I require a special docking station to enable live captioning on my work pc while also enabling my two external monitors. ICT refuses to buy this (despite being only €50 more expensive than the ones we currently have) and HR is reluctant to step in. I feel like a drama queen for pressuring the issue and this whole situation is weighing me down mentally
I recently started a new job and I got a Mac as work laptop, specifically because the Apple ecosystem works better with hearing aids support. I have two external screens at my office desk, which connect through my laptop through a docking station. However, the docking station does not natively support the two external screens and requires an extra app to work (DisplayLink Manager). This set-up, with the two external monitors connected to a docking station which in turn connects with one cable to your laptop, is the standard set-up for the whole office. My laptop is tucked away under my desk when it is connected to the docking station.
Due to my hearing problems, I require live captioning to always be on whenever I am looking at audio content. Due to my job content, I am basically in online meetings half of the work day (and in in-person ones for the rest of the day). Some of these online meetings do no allow the captioning of the meeting app to be enabled, as I work in a field that discusses a lot of sensitive information. So in practice, I have the live captioning function that is built-in in Mac constantly on to follow along with meetings.
However, the DisplayLink Manager causes a problem with this and makes the live captioning grey out completely when you use it with the two external monitors connected through a docking station. It is fine when just use my laptop screen without any connection to the docking station, or when I plug in each monitor separately (I'll call this the two cable solution). However, both options are not practical to me. The solution with just my tiny laptop screen feels incredibly silly given that I have two enormous monitors at my disposal + it requires me to unplug my laptop from under my desk every time I have a meeting and then plug it back in again when I am done. The two cable solution technically works, but this is first of all cumbersome as half of my meetings are in person so I spent half of my day reaching under my desk in search of those two cables and then plugging them in and out again + secondly, it plugs up all my available ports so I can't put anything else in my laptop.
I've researched some solutions to this problem, and it seems the only practical one is having a Thunderbolt station that doesn't need the DisplayLink Manager app and that natively supports two external screens. I proposed this solution to ICT but they simply refused, even after I explained it I need it for live captioning to work (I didn't mention my hearing problems explicitly; I just stated I need live captioning for doing my work properly). Instead, they proposed the two cables solution. I said I did try that one before but that I didn't find it practical; they again stated that they will not buy me a Thunderbolt docking station and if I want to have a solution to my live captioning problem, it should be the two cable one. I didn't react to that ticket for a few days, as I was thinking on my next steps on what to do with this.
During those days, they installed the two cable solution anyway without my permission, while I was away for an in-person meeting. When I came back from that meeting, the ICT person was still installing it and I again stated it was not practical for me and that I would like to have a set-up just like all my other colleagues have. This was met with the statement 'that if I have such a specific preference, then I should buy the docking station myself as ICT will not pay for it'. I was honestly taking aback from this and felt quite offended - it's not a preference, I would gladly go with a normal docking station if my ears would allow it... I also have already spent quite some money on getting all kind of equipment that helps with my hearing loss and I don't feel I should now also start providing my own material for work as that should be my employer's responsibility. I didn't want to take the discussion further with the guy, as my desk is in a landscape office of 25 people and I didn't want to cause a scene.
So I took the situation to HR and my supervisor, but I feel both also treat it as 'just a preference' and that 'the solution is working so what exactly is that problem?'. On top of hat, HR is quite reluctant to act on it as the relationship between ICT and my department is far from good and he doesn't want to push it any further. He instead said I should try to solve the situation myself, but honestly, I feel this shouldn't be my task.
I've been wearing hearing aids for the last 10 years and it has only been in the last two years or so that I started standing up for myself in regard to my hearing problems and it has been fighting a constantly uphill battle ever since. I am just tired of constantly having to explain myself for simple things. While yes, the two cable solution technically works, a Thunderbolt docking station costs €50 extra compared to the ones we currently have. We are a multi million company and I have a medical need.
The whole situation is weighing on me mentally and I am feeling like I'm being an incredible drama queen. It just doesn't feel fair to me that I again end up with a less practical solution, while all my colleagues are merrily plugging in their pc with just the one cable, and all this because I managed to have bad luck with my genetics. My friends are saying to just accept it and move on, but that doesn't sit right with me either because I have been doing that my entire life and I am done with it.