{"id":19950,"date":"2012-09-12T16:50:05","date_gmt":"2012-09-12T21:50:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/?p=19950"},"modified":"2012-09-12T19:37:31","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T00:37:31","slug":"driving-in-silence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2012\/09\/12\/driving-in-silence\/","title":{"rendered":"Driving in Silence"},"content":{"rendered":"

DRIVING IN SILENCE<\/strong><\/p>\n

September 2012<\/p>\n

by Amanda Jakl<\/p>\n

Randall Doane has been driving big rigs for more than 10 years. Driving
\ndouble and triple trailers, and tankers and hazardous material, he’s
\nlogged more than a quarter million miles across nearly 30 states and
\nCanada until this year when he failed a hearing test.<\/p>\n

Doane’s wings have been cut, so to speak, as his routes are now limited
\nto the state of Texas. Along with 45 deaf or hard-of-hearing drivers,
\nDoane is requesting an exemption from the federal law prohibiting deaf
\ndrivers from driving commercial vehicles across state lines. He’s an
\nexperienced driver who wants to drive, but his hearing loss is holding
\nhim back.<\/p>\n

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) requires that
\nany commercial driver be able to perceive, with or without a hearing
\naid, “a forced whispered voice in the better ear at not less than five
\nfeet” or that the driver “does not have an average hearing loss in the
\nbetter ear greater than 40 decibels.” A refrigerator hum is about 40
\ndecibels. A diesel truck is 84 decibels. Prolonged exposure to sounds
\nover 90 decibels can lead to gradual hearing loss. Truck drivers risk
\nhearing loss every year they stay behind the wheel.<\/p>\n

Professional driver licensing is done at the state level, but with
\ncommercial vehicles involved in interstate commerce, drivers must
\nobtain a federal license as well. Most states allow the deaf to drive
\ncommercial vehicles, but federal law prohibits them from obtaining a
\ncommercial driver’s license for interstate commerce. So essentially,
\ndeaf drivers can operate a truck anywhere within their state, but they
\ncan’t cross the state line. Jesse Shelander, a deaf driver in Texas who
\nhas driven commercial trucks since 1999 and currently works for Mine
\nServices, Ltd., deals with this rule every day. “I had a request from
\nmy supervisor to drive out to Louisiana to pick up and haul heavy
\nequipment twice,” he says, “but couldn’t because my license is for
\ndriving intrastate only.”<\/p>\n

Shelander and Doane are members of Deaf Truckers United (DTU), a
\nFacebook group for deaf and hard-of-hearing truck drivers and their
\nhearing advocates. DTU was founded in 2011 by Brenda Palmigiano, a
\nformer driving instructor who is also deaf. She created the group,
\nwhich boasts more than 200 members, to “network with other deaf
\ntruckers in the United States and to share the common goals in regards
\nof the employment issues” after she realized that “many deaf truckers
\nhad similar problems as mine.”<\/p>\n

How does hearing affect driving skills? Needless to say, deaf drivers
\ndepend on their vision to warn them of possible safety issues. “Deaf
\npeople have found many modern technologies inside the truck that will
\nassist them to detect any malfunction, like airbrakes issues, warning
\nlights and PSI,” Shelander points out. They also depend on their sense
\nof touch.<\/p>\n

“I get hooked up to the tunes of the diesel motor at work and get the
\nfeel of the air suspension tunes,” Doane says. “That is my music.”
\nChanges in vibrations from the truck can warn deaf drivers of flat
\ntires and airbrake issues, the DTU reports, changes that hearing
\ndrivers don’t always identify. Some research indicates that deaf
\ndrivers may have better peripheral vision, not that Doane relies on
\nthat. “I become an owl where my neck moves to the farthest left and to
\nthe farthest right,” he says.<\/p>\n

Between the cell phone ringing, the radio blaring and the CB crackling,
\ntoday’s truck driver is distracted. Cruising at 60 miles an hour, a
\ntruck driver that takes two seconds to look down to change a music CD
\nhas traveled 176 feet blindly – a distraction that could cost lives.
\nDeaf drivers don’t have those distractions, which potentially makes
\nthem safer drivers.<\/p>\n

A hearing advocate of DTU, Greg Newman, wondered how much of his
\ndriving ability was dependent on hearing. He decided to conduct an
\nexperiment. He drove 500 miles while wearing earplugs, “just to get an
\nidea of what these folks deal with.” He admits it’s not the most
\nscientific experiment, blocking his hearing by about 80 percent, but he
\ngained a new appreciation for the deaf and hard of hearing. “I caught
\nmyself driving slower, checking my mirrors more often, watching my
\ngauges more closely,” he says. “All in all I felt I was being more
\ncautious. These folks do all of this naturally.”<\/p>\n

Newman’s rudimentary experiment reinforces the results of a 2008 study
\nrequested by the FMCSA regarding hearing loss and commercial motor
\nvehicle safety. The study was unable to produce any clear connection
\nbetween auditory disabilities and crash risks.<\/p>\n

Even in the auto insurance industry, deaf drivers pay the same premiums
\nas their hearing counterparts because “evidence from studies of the
\nprivate driver license holder population does not support the
\ncontention that individuals with hearing impairment are at an increased
\nrisk for a crash.” The FMCSA also recognizes this is not a matter of
\ndriving expertise, saying the issue is the physical qualification is
\nhearing and not the actual driving skills of deaf drivers.<\/p>\n

The National Association of the Deaf (NAD), which advocates in all
\nindustries for the deaf and hard of hearing, affirms that communication
\nin trucking is no longer hindered by hearing loss because of the
\nincreased use of technology like Qualcomm and smartphones. Scott
\nFriede, a deaf driver from Nebraska, points out that driving the truck
\nis not his biggest challenge as a deaf driver. The vehicle inspections
\nwith verbal instructions and weigh stations without lights are the
\nobstacles that block his path.<\/p>\n

The FMCSA law affects both deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers. The
\ndifference between being deaf and hard of hearing can often be
\nconfusing to the hearing community. Dean DeRusso, a deaf systems
\nadvocate at the Regional Center for Independent Living in Rochester,
\nN.Y., champions policy issues affecting the deaf and hard of hearing.<\/p>\n

“Hard-of-hearing people [sometimes] call themselves a ‘person with mild
\nto moderate hearing loss,'” he explains. “Most of the time, the hard of
\nhearing feel that they are not deaf due to their dependence on being
\nable to hear and speak. The hard of hearing also look at deaf people as
\npeople who depend on their eyes.” Because of these distinctions, there
\ncan be a separation between the “people who are born deaf or have
\nhearing loss in their lifetime.” But both groups are fighting for the
\nsame rights.<\/p>\n

The FMCSA treats the deaf differently as well as the mute. Federal law
\nrequires drivers to be able to speak English, while states’ laws do
\nnot. Since many deaf truck drivers are unable to speak, but can read
\nand write in English, they cannot obtain a federal commercial driver’s
\nlicense, putting them in the same category as a foreign truck driver.<\/p>\n

Some drivers can wear hearing aids that allow them to pass the hearing
\ntest, even if they can’t understand the words. The ability to
\ncommunicate is less important than the ability to hear a hushed
\nwhisper. Deaf and hard-of-hearing drivers who want to try out a hearing
\naid must pay for it themselves. And the suggestion of cochlear implants
\nis insensitive to deaf drivers.<\/p>\n

DeRusso explains that cochlear implants do not have a high success rate
\nand even those drivers who have implants can’t always hear above the
\nnoise of the cab. More importantly, he says, it’s “not fair to the deaf
\nperson [to feel] that they have to go under the knife to get a job.”<\/p>\n

According to the FMCSA, the exemption request by NAD is the first of
\nits kind. “Prior to the National Association of the Deaf’s application
\nfor exemptions from the hearing standard, FMCSA had not received any
\nrequests for regulatory relief from the rule,” a FMCSA spokesperson
\nsays. “The agency welcomes the opportunity to address this issue
\nthrough the notice-and-comment exemption process and looks forward to
\nissuing a decision on the matter later this year.”<\/p>\n

The FMCSA has allowed exemptions in the past. It wasn’t long ago that
\ndrivers with insulin-dependent diabetes were prohibited from driving
\ncommercial vehicles. Now diabetic truck drivers can file for an
\nexemption every two years. It stands to reason that deaf drivers should
\nbe able to do the same.<\/p>\n

SOURCE:<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.ptcchallenge.com\/article-viewer.aspx?id=791<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DRIVING IN SILENCE September 2012 by Amanda Jakl Randall Doane has been driving big rigs for more than 10 years. Driving double and triple trailers, and tankers and hazardous material, he’s logged more than a quarter million miles across nearly…<\/p>\n

Read more →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_crdt_document":"","advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[15037,15045,15040,1554,3767,14136,15046,24,15039,15031,14323,15036,62,833,516,15044,15030,15035,1412,153,470,15043,15042,15041,630,15038,15033,10311,15032,1541,17,8610,15034],"class_list":["post-19950","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-deaf-news","tag-airbrake","tag-amanda-jakl","tag-brenda-palmigiano","tag-cochlear-implant","tag-commercial","tag-commercial-drivers-license","tag-commercial-vehicle","tag-deaf","tag-deaf-truckers-united","tag-dean-derusso","tag-diabetic","tag-dtu","tag-english","tag-facebook","tag-federal","tag-federal-motor-carrier-safety-administration","tag-fmcsa","tag-greg-newman","tag-hard-of-hearing","tag-hearing-aid","tag-insurance","tag-jesse-shelander","tag-ltd","tag-mine-services","tag-national-association-of-the-deaf","tag-psi","tag-qualcomm","tag-randall-doane","tag-regional-center-for-independent-living","tag-smartphones","tag-texas","tag-truck-driver","tag-vehicle-inspections"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p752R-5bM","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15365,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2011\/08\/10\/nad-asks-dot-to-waive-hearing-standard-for-deaf-truck-drivers\/","url_meta":{"origin":19950,"position":0},"title":"NAD Asks DOT to Waive Hearing Standard for Deaf Truck Drivers","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"August 10, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"NAD Asks DOT to Waive Hearing Standard for Deaf Truck Drivers 08\/04\/2011 The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) filed applications for exemptions with the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) on behalf of 21 deaf truck drivers asking the DOT to waive its hearing requirement and allow them to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General"","block_context":{"text":"General","link":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/category\/deaf-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13667,"url":"https:\/\/deafnetwork.com\/wordpress\/blog\/2011\/03\/22\/deaf-truck-drivers-wanted-to-apply-for-cdl-exemption\/","url_meta":{"origin":19950,"position":1},"title":"Deaf Truck Drivers Wanted to Apply for CDL Exemption","author":"Grant Laird Jr","date":"March 22, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The National Association of the Deaf (NAD) launched a new effort in its ongoing advocacy on behalf of drivers who are deaf and hard of hearing and who wish to obtain Commercial Driver\u2019s Licenses (CDLs). 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