Vicki's Vapours

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Getting a drivers licence as a deaf person

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I’ve been tossing up lately as to whether or not to sell my car and buy a scooter. There are pros and cons, but I went to a scooter shop on Thursday and was really, really impressed with the customer focus of these people. Nothing was too much trouble. More on that in another post.

While undecided about whether or not I’d actually get a scooter, it seemed very little trouble, while in Joondalup, to go to the licensing centre to get my motorbike learners’ permit.

One of the questions on the application form was related to physical disabilities, with an option for “Other”. I wrote that I am deaf but am a cochlear implant recipient.

When the girl at the counter saw this, she said she’d just check in her files to make sure that wasn’t a problem. There was nothing in her files about deafness or hearing impairment at all but was that enough for her? Of course not. She had to go and make a fuss. She went away to “ask”, and over ten minutes later returned and said I’d have to go to my doctor and get a letter saying he/she thought it was ok for me to drive.

(Bear in mind I’ve had my car licence for 23 years.)

So I wasn’t a happy chappy and I asked to see the documentation that decreed I should do so. I said, if this is engraved in stone then so be it, but if someone has made an arbitrary decision then I want to know about it.

She disappeared and didn’t return for quite some time. We probably waited there at the counter for half an hour or more in total. At one point, her supervisor appeared and asked for my drivers licence number. I started to seethe, because I’d simply asked to see the documentation that said a deaf or hearing-impaired person was unable to drive, not to have it all checked against my own details. What was a general enquiry had suddenly become personal. WTF?

Eventually someone came and said no I didn’t have to go and get a letter from the doctor (well, what a surprise — there was no rule about that and someone quite clearly had made an arbitrary decision, but I’d made a fuss about it, so…) and I simply had to fill out a form stating that I had this physical condition.

There would be no problem getting my learners permit at all.

Grrrrrr.

I don’t know about you but I’m absolutely gobsmacked and horrified that individual staff should apparently decide that someone who is deaf (albeit with cochlear implants) has no brain and is unable to drive, even though all the documentation available to them says it’s not a problem. But because they personally find it a problem, it becomes a problem — unless, of course, the customer complains loudly enough.

Government of Western Australia — the buck won’t stop here. Although it ended well enough (I have my motorbike learners’ permit) this is a clear case of discrimination.

Shame.

Clink!

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It’s time to celebrate!

On Tuesday, 30th September, 2008, I start a new job.

This is really exciting for me as it’s a significant career move, in terms of both career advancement and finances, so naturally I’m pretty happy about it.

I had thought I would be with my employer of the last 12 months somewhat longer — but circumstances conspired to give me reason to hasten my departure, and I landed the new job within days. The way it all fell together was so neat, it had to be right — though I did joke at one point that I thought it would never happen because if it did, it would be too neat!

The new job is an IT Manager role at a private RTO (Registered Training Organisation) which is growing rapidly, and it will be exciting and challenging to set up and manage their IT, web and eLearning strategies, systems and processes.

The company is based in Bunbury so I expect to spend a fair bit of time down there, at least at first. But my own job will be based in East Perth, just one very short block from the river and The Cove — I love that area and will be in heaven after the dull, miles-from-anywhere-nice location of my previous job.

The one downside is that leaving my old job when I did meant I could no longer attend the Web Directions South conference, and the tweets from attendees so far this week have been a tinsy bit painful for me. Ah well.

A brief cochlear implant update

There isn’t a lot to report regarding my cochlear implants. Vists to the audiologist have reduced in frequency though I did have a check-up with the surgeon who — lovely man that he is — was really happy for me that everything was going well. He arranged for me to go back one year post-op and said, “I may not see much of you but believe me, we talk about you a lot in our meetings!”

Life goes on!

Then and now

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Last week, during my visit to Roberta, my audiologist, she decided to run a short hearing test to see how much sound my ears can pick up at this point in time, one month after activation. A few minutes in the booth listening to tones emitted from a speaker, and then we were back in her office and she showed me the results.

See for yourself:

Audiogram, August 2008

OK, I know it’s not very clear, so I’ll explain a little. The decibels (measurement of loudness) run down the Y axis and the frequencies (relating to pitch) run along the X axis. The lightly shaded area at the top, between -10dB and 20dB, is considered to be the “normal” range.

Which, in short, means that according to this audiogram my ears are detecting sounds at what Roberta described as “nearly normal/very mild hearing loss” levels!

She then showed me an audiogram from a hearing test conducted during my cochlear implant assessment, in August 2007. See the difference?!

Audiogram, August 2007

I previously had a moderate loss at the very lowest frequencies, which rapidly dropped away to nothing at all in higher frequencies, including most frequencies necessary to understand speech.

Now, my ears are detecting sounds between about 20dB and 30dB on the graph, around or just under the levels of a person with normal hearing. I asked if it would get better over time, but Roberta indicated the 40dB area and said that is where most cochlear implantees are and didn’t seem to think there would be further improvement there for me (though that won’t stop me from hoping. ;-) ) She seemed to think it quite unusual that I’m able to detect the sounds I am just one month after activation.

The reality

Of course, all this doesn’t mean a lot in practical terms right now. My brain is still undergoing re-education, and it will take a while for my speech (and music) discernment to catch up with my actual hearing levels. But Roberta seems quite sure they will.

I’m rapt!