Can Deaf people drive?

“Do you drive?”

“Can Deaf people drive?”

“We can drive, but Deaf people can’t.”

Those are the questions or statements I’ve heard since childhood. I recall being in ASL class in middle school. The teacher asked the class to name one thing that they can do that deaf people can’t do. A girl said “we can drive”. I reacted to that with surprise that some people thought that way.

“What about the emergency vehicles/sirens?”

“How can you hear the car horns?”

Usually the follow up questions would be about sounds that most hearing people hear while driving. Yes, I can’t hear them, but I can see the emergency vehicles. I can’t hear car horns. I do have the added expectations to look around more.

It helps that Deaf people are known to have expansive peripheral vision. At the driver’s license testing, the evaluator even made a comment that he especially likes the Deaf drivers because they pay attention more.

There is no proof that Deaf people cause more accidents due to their hearing, or hearing loss making them less safe drivers. We are allowed to receive a regular driver’s license but any type of other licenses may be more challenging. It was only recent that Deaf drivers can be truck drivers (2013).

It was frustrating at one of my old jobs when I was a direct support professional. I was responsible to help my client learn how to be a member of the community i.e. having a job, participate in events, etc. All direct support professionals at the agency were required to get a special driver’s license to be able to transport clients. I went through the whole process of being fingerprinted, blood tested and paid fees to find out that I couldn’t get it because of restrictions about my hearing loss. Oh! I forgot to mention that getting that license also meant a pay bump. Luckily, the agency was understanding that I tried and they honored the pay bump for me anyways. It still wasn’t fun for the entire employment to feel like I couldn’t be relied on for driving. We had a team 2:1 so the other did all of the driving. I felt a lot of guilt for not being more helpful.

Emergency vehicles nowadays don’t seem to use sirens anymore. I can spot the flashing lights coming from behind me or ahead of me a mile away! There was only one moment that worked against my Deafness when I drove to my job in downtown Rochester, NY. I came to an intersection that was blocked by tall buildings and once the light turned green, I started going when a police cruiser was speeding towards me. I slammed on the brakes hard, and let the cruiser continue even though he had to slow a bit.

Being a Deaf driver can still be a challenge, but thankfully my expansive peripheral vision helps tremendously. I know that I always have to be alert. I still work hard to this day to not have any distractions. I often do double-checking at intersections/stop signs. To this day, I’ve never received a ticket (*knock on wood*). It’s a common misconception that people think Deaf people can’t drive legally but they can!