Employment and disability: Ava, the start-up that breaks the silence with deaf and hard of hearing employees

The films “La Famille Bélier” and its American remake “Coda” both illustrate the childhood of Thibault Duchemin, the co-founder of Ava. “I was born into a family of deaf people, but I’m the only one who isn’t,” says this 33-year-old engineer, a graduate of Ponts et Chaussées and the University of Berkeley, in the United States. His mother tongue, which he speaks with his father, mother and younger sister, is sign language, thanks to which he was able to be their quasi-permanent interpreter.