From: famatthews@GALLUA.BITNET (Allen Matthews)
Subject: Re: Deaf Firefighter??
Organization: Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C.
Date: Tue, 1 Sep 1992 20:52:15 GMT

>>== From: bguest@ateam.ems.cdc.com (Brandon Guest)

>>Many of the members of our department used his hearing impairment
>>as a general excuse for attacking him rather than proactively
>>dealing with his maturity problem.  In general, he was cast as
>>'unsafe' to be around on the fire scene. (...pararaph cut...)
>>I would have to characterize this whole experience as a classic
>>example of 'ugly prejudice'.

Agree!!  Unfortunally that case hurt lot more deaf people who tried
to get into..  In some case, deafness may be only reason for the
type of prejudices..

>>Consider the consequences of sending a hearing impaired
>>individual into an interior fire attack situation.  All
>>firefighters are in full protective gear with SCBA.  At this
>>point no communications between the hearing impaired
>>firefighter and the other members of the team would be
>>possible.  Signing or lip reading are not practical or possible
>>(gloved hands and reduced visibility).  This has obvious safety
>>implications.

I would not probably try to get into interior firefigher for the
sake of safety of mine and others..  Supposed if a deaf person have
enough guts and want to get into that kind of situations, can
he/she get into that area and work as team???

>>Unfortunately, most departments typically do not want to deal
>>with members who have physical restrictions.  Because of the
>>Americans with Disabilities Act, there is actually a disincentive
>>for departments to accept members with restrictions (the lawyers
>>are saying that the best way to keep obviously unqualified
>>individuals off the department is to make sure only completely
>>qualified members are admitted.

Lawyer may not realized that type of behavior was easiest way for
deaf person to win lawsuit..   The deaf person can keep up with
what's going on with membership applications committee and file
lawsuit against the fire department on basics of discriminations..

I have been told that the fire dept in P.G. county are in need of
more volunteers and do not have enough manpower to keep the station
fully staffed. That may create a problem of membership committee to
attempt to keep deaf out of firefighter memberships..

>>Other possible roles may be in training, administration, etc.

Right, one possible role that I think of is a safety teacher..  I
would be more than happy to lecture and give demonstrations to deaf
kids the danger of the fire and safety evacuation plans..

>>Anyhow, good luck in your quest.  I hope you are able to find a 
>>position somewhere that meets your personal goals.  If you would
>>like any additional insight or ideas feel free to email me.

Thanks..   Will post something else on this newsgroup related to my
goals..   I want to keep this short and post another message
later..

				- Allen -
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Allen Matthews - Supervisor, Computer Operation
Gallaudet University Computer Services, Washington, D.C. 

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