Vicki's Vapours

Categories

Getting a drivers licence as a deaf person

by 9 Comments

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.

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah (What a wonderful day)

by

Do you ever get a tune that goes round and round in your head till it drives you mad, but you can’t escape it? I frequently do. Today the tune is Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah and it’s rather annoying.

(Not, however, as annoying as Bananas in Pyjamas which is another not-infrequent uninvited guest.)

Since I was a child and first heard “Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah” I have always associated the song and tune with carefree days and happiness. Today I am not carefree (who is, honestly?) but my cares and concerns are manageable so of course I’m happy.

In the last week or two I’ve been fortunate enough to talk with two very special people who have each contributed something extraordinarily meaningful, although quite different, to the quality of my life. One has helped me to see that my attitude has regressed over the troubled times of the last couple of years, and the other made me feel that a potential new direction was not only possible, but “perfect” for me. As a result I have a couple of new projects to bring to fruition, and I feel both a peace and an excitement I haven’t experienced in a long time.

There are many things that bother me that I have no control of, and it’s hard not to worry about them. But there are many things that are within my control that I need to work on to improve, and I’m working on them.

And there are new and exciting worlds to explore and conquer.

It’s All Good™!

Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah!

Madeleine

by 2 Comments

A quick look at the last post on this site tells me it is 53 days since I last wrote. Ouch. The Unheard Word is just as bad. I’ve been mired down with some de-motivating influences with my work, and have been so darned flat out that I haven’t been able to justify spending time at the computer when I wasn’t working. Well, a web site that has bogged me down for an incredibly long time has just gone live, and so here I am.

I had a birthday a few days ago (no we will not discuss my age… sob… ) and amongst the very thoughtful gifts I received, was a delightful one from Andy — a Golden Chinchilla Persian kitten. I called her Madeleine — because, other than liking the name and thinking it suits her, I knew she’d get Mad for short, and she’s certainly a typical mad kitten.

She is a delight. I was rattling around here at home, those times I was by myself, and I just wanted another soul in the house. Mad is everything I wished for.

Mind, you, she’s a ratbag. She’s trying to climb up the inside of my bedside lamp as I type.

However.

She’s the sweetest little thing and is becoming less fearful and suspicious and more trusting as time goes by. She follows me wherever I go, and sleeps by my side. I mean — who needs a man when they can have a cat, right? ;-)

We are getting on splendidly and I just melt when she looks at me with those big, round, enquiring eyes. Welcome to my home, Mad!