The National Association of the Deaf (GNAD) has called for systems and processes to be put in place immediately to enable deaf people to own driver’s licence to be able to drive.
They contend that the failure of the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Authority (DVLA) to grant deaf people driver’s licence amount to discrimination and a violation of the 1992 Constitution, which guarantees the rights of persons with disability to own driver’s licence.
The National President of the GNAD, Mr Emmanuel K. Sackey, who spoke through an interpreter at a stakeholders’ conference in Accra yesterday, said upon request by the DVLA, the association submitted good practices from other countries on the issue to it two years ago but that had not yielded any result.
He cited the example of South Africa, Uganda and some developed countries where deaf people could acquire driver’s licence and drive their own cars, as well as public buses.
Mr Sackey pointed out that the country’s Constitution, the Disability Act and other international laws to which Ghana was a signatory, frowned on discrimination based on disability.
He said according to the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD), there was no known report that deaf drivers were a threat to other road users in the countries where deaf people were allowed to obtain a driver’s licence, “or that they are involved in more traffic accidents than the general population”.
Mr Sackey said according to the WFD, deaf drivers drove better than hearing ones because they respected road safety regulations and used rear-mirrors more effectively, adding that because they were hearing impaired, their other senses were well developed to compensate for the loss of hearing.
Mr Sackey indicated that he appreciated the concerns of the public over the issue, particularly so as deaf people could not hear cues such as a police siren, that of an ambulance needing the right of way, or even the horn of a vehicle, but said there were several ways around those problems.
He said the most common was that most deaf people paid great attention to visual cues, such as the flashing lights of a vehicle, cues from other drivers on the road, as well as the use of driving mirrors, adding that they also frequently used peripheral vision.
The Executive Director of the GNAD, Mr James Sambian, said despite the widespread ratification of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), of which Ghana was one of such countries, challenged people in the country faced a lot of hindrances.
An executive member of the World Federation of the Deaf, Mr Benjamin Bekoe, advocated the inclusion of sign language in the educational curricula at all levels, particularly the pre-tertiary level.
The association used the occasion to present a citation to the Ambassador of the Republic of Turkey, Madam Nesrin Bayazit, for sponsoring 10 of their members to the World Federation of the Deaf in Turkey.
