Friday, August 7, 2009

Rules that excludes the Deaf from certain careers.

The other day I was talking with my girl friend and she was telling me about someone who wanted to work on a cruise line but was denied at the very last minute because of a rule that the Coast Guard had in place. I found this article
Coast Guard changed rules and thought that this was one good example of where we should remove barriers in rules and regulation so opportunities are not denied.

So is there a reason why, I as a Deaf citizen of the United States of America, can not join the Army/Navy/Air Force and move up in rank? Is there rules there that explicitly states that you have to have normal hearing or vision in order to be a marine/general/cadet? There are plenty of services that the Army does that can be subsituted with a visual language(morse code comes to mind). People who carry supplies to the troop is one such service. My father was a butcher in the Korean War serving the Top Boss in Germany. A Deaf person can do the same. Here another article that touch on this subject (Deaf unable to enlist)

How about being a doctor or a nurse? Wouldn't it be nice if I could be seen by a Deaf Doctor or Nurse. Naturally there are all kinds of nurses, including those that work with patients that are non-verbal or work in the lab. I did some searching and came across this web site (Assocation of Medical Professional with Hearing Loss). So we just need to put up a fight to make changes.

What about teachers in mainstream programs? Are teachers who are deaf excluded because of some rule that states they need to hear?

I've heard there was some rules regarding driving an 18 wheeler. Looks like the CDL (Commerical Driver License) requires you to have good hearing. Why is that? If we can drive a car, then how different is that than driving an 18 wheeler?

In general, there are probably a lot of regulations that need to be changed.