LYDENBURG – A local driving-school instructor, Hilda Roos, is determined to prove that being deaf is not a barrier to being a good driver.
Roos has made it her mission to make sure that hearing-impaired learners become the best drivers on the road. She is the founder of Driver K53 Driving School and she finds serenity in making a difference for others.
“I believe that every person deserves to drive a car they want and just because a person has hearing challenges, it does not mean they will not be good drivers,” Roos said.
“Deaf people are normal and they deserve the same rights that everyone has. Teaching a person with hearing impairment is really not more difficult than teaching a person who can hear clearly.”
Tiaan Botha and Siska Britz are some of the learners with hearing challenges who attend driving classes at Driver K53 driving school. Botha is a young man who can only hear loud noises from one ear. He uses a hearing aid and is busy preparing for his learner driver’s test.
Britz, a young woman, does not use a hearing aid, although when you talk to her you have to make sure that you are standing next to her left ear. She is currently taking driving lessons.
According to Roos she introduced a few methods that enabled her to communicate with her learners during their driving lessons. “I have to make sure that when I talk I look at them so that they may be able to read my lips, I speak a little louder than I usually do and use my hands a lot.
Using my hands is something that I do all the time, so it comes natural during class,” she explained.
“Some cars do not make a loud noise, so sometimes the learner is not aware that the car is ready to move. I will then use my hands to show that it is time to step on the accelerator and let go of the clutch,” she added.
“I learnt most of my skills from one of my learners a couple of years ago. I asked her questions about what she would prefer communication methods to be so that I can have a better understanding and some things I learnt with time,” she said.
“I remember while I was still trying to master the best way to communicate with her, I spoke very loud all the time and one day she said to me, you don’t have to be very loud because I am wearing my hearing aid and when you speak like that it sounds like you are screaming,” she explained.
“She told me that the hearing aids amplify sound and make the speech more intelligible, so from that day I stopped,” she added.
