■Proposed removal of the hearing ability requirement: Is it really to be welcomed?

A piece of epoch-making news came out on April 14. It was reported that the hearing ability requirement for hearing-impaired people to acquire a driver’s license would be totally removed. According to the news report, the Road Traffic Law will be revised to implement it in 2008.

If this means just the abolition of the hearing ability requirement, I would welcome it with open arms. But reading through the reports in Mainichi Newspapers and the Yomiuri Shimbun on the Internet, I begin to wonder if the proposed revision of the law should be simply accepted.

Large-size rearview mirrors will have to be installed to make up for the removal of the hearing ability requirement. I have no objection to this, because there are already many Deaf people have wide mirrors installed in their cars. I myself don’t have a wide mirror equipped in my own car (a BMW Mini) for fear of spoiling its beauty. I can do without a wide mirror.

The reason why Deaf drivers install wide mirrors is they find it necessary to have them not only to keep the blind spot to a minimum and monitor traffic in the rear but also to speak in sign language with Deaf passengers in the rear seat.

Since I lack such advanced skills, I just remain silent while I drive.

The problem is that a sticker to show that the driver is a hearing-impaired person must be affixed to the car. This is said to remind other drivers to refrain from blowing a horn toward the car with the sticker, which I think is nothing but an unwanted favor. Be that as it may, from the standpoint of protecting personal information, the compulsory use of the sticker on the car tells everyone around that the driver is a hearing-impaired person. There is a possibility that cars with this sticker might be shadowed and attacked by people with malicious intent.

Deaf people are not different in appearance from hearing people. Therefore, some well-intentioned hearing people who lack an understanding of the Deaf have made the well-meaning suggestion that Deaf people wear a badge on their clothing so as to be easily recognized. The same problem as this suggestion seems to exist in the obligatory use of the sticker. Many Deaf drivers will find it difficult to accept this condition about the sticker.

Another problem is that hearing-impaired drivers are obligated to participate in a safety training session. This will be an increasing burden on Deaf drivers, because they have to attend the training session intended exclusively (?) for hearing-impaired people every time their driver’s license is renewed.

The abolition of the hearing ability requirement is considered, not surprisingly, a worldwide trend. In many highly-motorized developed countries, the installation of wide mirrors is obligatory, but there are no conditions as far as hearing ability is concerned. Why is it then that Japan will be the only country that makes the use of the sticker obligatory?

I propose that this obligatory condition be reported to the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD). Probably, the WFD would respond in a negative fashion, with a comment like, “That’s crazy!”

Various obligatory conditions following the removal of the hearing ability requirement would drastically lower the comfort index of Deaf drivers.

I don’t think that the revision of the Road Traffic Law should be welcomed without due consideration. It is my sincere hope that Deaf movement groups adequately address the problems involved.

* Translated from the e-magazine of April 17, 2006 (No. 073)