Driving Restrictions Protests

Driving is a right that the deaf possess in most parts of the world, but not all, and in some cases, it is a right only recently won. As of a 2009 survey, 26 countries in the world did not legally allow the deaf to drive; in some others, the determination was made at the state or regional level, as it is in the United States. English law at one time forbade the deaf from driving, which was inherited by some of England’s colonies and dependencies, late in its history. Jamaica, for instance, did not gain independence until 1962. Forty years later, the Deaf community of Jamaica protested the Jamaican government’s failure to remove this obsolete law from the books. The government had promised in 2001 both to restore the deaf right to drive, and to give the deaf equal access to government services for disabled persons, but had not fulfilled its promise 6 months later. The Jamaican Association for the Deaf, based in Kingston, organized the protest, though some in the Deaf community complained that driving was a less essential right to them than some of the other problems they faced.

The protest yielded nothing but more promises and set up a cycle that continued for more than a decade, in which the Deaf community would protest the government’s inaction; the government would promise to do something about it; time would pass; and nothing would be done until the next protest. Practical considerations stayed the government’s hand, such as implementing special classes to teach the deaf to drive (though the Deaf community addressed this need itself), and updating the language of the law to reflect current assistive technology. The deaf are not prevented from driving in Jamaica, as such—rather, they are prevented from getting a driver’s license from a test administered in Jamaica. The distinction was frequently raised in protests, because it meant that there were in fact deaf people legally driving in Jamaica: deaf tourists, licensed in their home countries with reciprocity agreements with Jamaica, renting cars without trouble while visiting Jamaica; and immigrants (or Jamaicans who had left the country and returned) who had been licensed in another country and transferred their licenses to Jamaica after moving. Both categories easily demonstrated the foolishness of the arguments against licensing the deaf and of questions like “if deaf people cannot hear a honking horn, how do they respond to emergencies?”

One of the reasons for the delay was the government’s insistence on a particular signaling device being imperative for use by deaf drivers, despite the fact that the device had fallen out of favor in other countries to such an extent that not only was it no longer mandated by law elsewhere; it was not even manufactured anymore. As far-fetched as it seems, this dispute held up the government’s promise to give the deaf the right to drive for over a decade. Opponents also raised the question of whether traffic police would need additional training in order to interact with the deaf. In order to address this, the Jamaican Association for the Deaf offered a free course on Jamaican sign language and Deaf culture to [Page 328]police officers, certifying officers, and motor vehicle inspectors, in 2009. Finally, that same year, the government announced that the deaf would be permitted to get driver’s licenses, though there have been ongoing issues with licensing procedures and the prejudices of test-administering officials. The Deaf community itself has taken the lead in providing driving education.

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