Does One Need Hearing In Both Ears To Drive Professionally OTR to All 48 States & Canada?

I'm hard of hearing in my right ear and this showed in the physical, but they passed me for Wisconsin.

 

I read your post with great interest as someone who is both a state certified CDL examiner and someone who has taken ASL and SEE (signing exact English) in college. You have some interesting and educated perspectives.

Would you mind commenting on something that's always puzzled me that I could not ascertain from your post? Why do the deaf not use SEE rather than the somewhat arcane and esoteric syntax of ASL? Is it a cultural anomaly?

 

Good question.

I am going to assume SEE refers to old English under the Galludet System. Should come out equal to exact english. (This is one example where hearing people don't really see how the deaf from one part of the USA to another part would try to find a common ground with a word or three or even a concept)

If you was to watch me tell you.

"Mother I am going to the store, I will return shortly. See you later!"

The result would be a signing by hand every single word, spelling by letter where there is not a foundation word and in addition to that, you are also either signing or spelling the punctuation which needs to be exact, the period, comma, exclimation point etc etc etc etc plus maintain the position of the situation being communicated in space and time (Past, now and future relative to the child speaking to mom using specific parts of the air around the body along with facial expressions etc)

And you grammar nazies think you have a problem with my written english. HA... not just HA but HA! lolz. ///tease...

Having dealt with all of that you convey the sentence as above.

Pretty tedious. Now. It was not tedious for a few hundred years if not even further back using the UK's industrial basic signs that were restricted to just enough and a few words to keep control of the deaf.. slave (Indentured or whatever you choose to use as a neutral not emotionally charged word to describe someone in a State Workshop not there because he or she wants to.)

Anyway.

American Sign Language ASL became apparent to me about the early 80's With that said even back in the 70's when I was taught English Sign was my first language then taught written English, spoken english in that order. (The spoken part only took about 4 years... 4 tedious years. to Build on what the parents did not teach) we had slang. I don't know how to describe a 70's situation in which a sentance would be reduced by a slang expression so that all of that tedium in spelling, saying, punctuation etc is disposed of in favor of what I would call battle talk when someone is pushed for time. Between two people who know each other.

ASL is a language all it's own. It stands alone. Like English, German, Spanish, Particularly Chinese... and others.

In ASL you can chop very big sections of going to store sentance out, dispose of the punctuation and convey the concept in a few fast hand movements. Beautiful movements to be sure, almost like music in a way. And I think that for the deaf who cannot hear was captivated like a cat would be by a laser beam on the floor and walls. (He he he... tease... im so bad...)

Anyhow.

If I tried to use standard english to a deaf today... the reaction from the younger ones would be very close to that which I get here on TTR for example OMG WALL OF TEXT OW!!! MY EYES.... follow me?

Not only that many of if not all of the punctuation signs would have to be taught and conveyed until the other party understood standard english if that young person has never been taught it. I would assume that younger person probably viewed the elders using english signs to one another as something of tedium to be endured. Like hearing people having to sit through say a shakesphearn playwrit with all the formal words and so forth so on. essentially droning. Come on come on hurry up tell me already...

Follow me? My spelling is not up to task today but I hope you understood a little more.

If I tried to use ASL which I do sometimes, it's grotesque so there is alot of apologies. For example if you watched the old Wizard of Oz dorothy in the late '30's movie walking the yellow brick road is a pretty good smooth situation. For me to use ASL which isnt natural to me would be like the tin man stumbling all over the place (Or was that the straw man.. who knows...) Tin man is closest because he needs oiling. So I need to be smoother in ASL.

Finally but not last...

In Urban areas known to be harboring gang activity, there is no signing. Period. What happens is all the conversation is disposed of prior to going downtown Baltimore for example and then it is reduced to the absolute minimum such as face expression and some poking and hitting or shoving where necessary. Touching I suppose not to abuse but to communicate. Remember the deaf works within time and also space.

Anyway I hope that helps. We used to be seriously funny with one of our deaf school administrators who had a bad shoulder. Sometimes the shoulder would lock up on him interrupting his signing as he is totally deaf. When you throw that into the late 80's with the refusal to learn and use the then new developing ASL which the entire student body (Myself included) was learning some of his ... lecturing about school rules etc such as no kissing in the kitchen line at meal time would be knock down funny. I would hate to name this poor person who is likely by now passed on because he was a good administrator and should be respected. But to a deaf immersed in ASL, the broken shoulder combined with English makes for a circus routine to use a bad concept. It's impossible to keep a straight face and behave.

Anyway there is alot more where that came from.

In the mid 80's there was a younger tech student who was combining computer processing, robotics and air plus fluid driven devices to transfer spoken language into signs and a scanner similar to the early childrens wii tv game to read the deaf signs and use a speaker to speak in a chosen language of the non deaf. Im not sure where all of that failed probably due to money limitations and so on. But today's smart phones offer a opportunity to convert back and forth as necessary in addition to possibly being able to run the contents of the famous bible of signing "Joy of Signing" book plus current languages into a form that can run in near real time video back to the deaf person from the English speaker.

Part of the problems include the Maryland School for the Blind, who also use sign and Braille etc and toss in Hearing people such as my father who went deaf one morning when a virus destroyed his ear section related to audio processing overnight leaving him with a bad ear to enjoy his music (Audiopile in his time, those days were pretty much over then...) he did not learn sign language and wishes a little bit that maybe He should have learned. It would be difficult to get that language into him being older and somewhat limited or set in his ways. You can teach a kid of 8 in a week flat and tell him or her to go into a dorm with nothing but deaf and he and she WILL learn. FAST. But try to teach a Parent? ha.

People who lose their language should have a way to learn another quickly. And ASL provides a easier (See how I did all this work leading to this particular paragraph?) and faster learning while disposing of all the tedious necessary side tracks in learning punctuation and exact little words such as "And" which just adds to the tonnage that needs learning to a already stressed person.

It does not mean the death of old english. Ive been known in deaf church to fall back onto it because its the closest match to A mighty fortress is our god. Now when a deaf congregation converts that to ASL... the result is pretty good. But with me signing in english staying with the music and timing I am the odd one out when the rest of the group of 50 or so is in time with ASL according to what they think is timing. And to any other deaf looking in from outside the group would fix on me and say.. what is THAT?! And so they need a little short course on english signing.

It's complicated.

After all that, when you have a chance to have a little peace, quiet and some privacy without others being around... it is a very very good thing.

So long.