Question: I am hard of hearing. If I am stopped by the police at night, what is the best way for me to let the police know that I can’t hear their orders. I don’t want to be manhandled or shot for deliberately disobeying orders I cannot hear.—S.D.
Answer: Good question. Let me answer by playing this same scenario twice, but with two very different outcomes. First, picture this one.
Late one stormy night you are driving home alone. Suddenly red and blue flashing lights punctuate the darkness behind you. You don’t know whether you are being pulled over for speeding, for having a broken tail light, or because you are driving a car that looks suspiciously like the get-a-way vehicle seen fleeing from the scene of a nearby convenience store robbery.
You immediately pull over to the side of the road and stop. You can’t see a thing as you are blinded by the headlights behind you. You don’t hear the cops ordering you to get out of your car and walk backwards towards them. Because you do not follow their directions, the police officers treat you as a threat to them, and in your case, storm your car, drag you from your vehicle, throw you to the ground and handcuff you.
This never should have happened—but did—because the cops thought you were deliberately disobeying them, and therefore must be hiding something. It never crosses their minds that you neither heard nor understood them because you have a hearing loss.
Now picture this same scenario, but this time using a visor card to get the cops’ attention. It’s another dark, stormy night when you are pulled over. This time, you know exactly what to do. After you have stopped, you immediately reach up and pull your sun visor down, unhook the end and swing it to face your side window. You open your driver’s-side window all the way, turn on the dome light, then put both of your hands in plain sight on the steering wheel and wait.
You wait and wait, not moving, even though you are apprehensive, because you faintly hear, but can’t understand, any of the instructions blaring from the police loud-hailer. Finally a cop approaches your door. He shines his flashlight in your window. Instead of dragging you out of your car, he reads the sign attached to your visor. Immediately his demeanor changes. Why? Because he now knows the reason you did not obey his orders. Your visor card, in big, bold letters declares, “Driver is Hard of Hearing.”
You can’t blame the cops for being careful. Theirs is a dangerous job, especially at night. Thus, it is vitally important to establish at the outset that your communications needs are totally different from those of people with normal hearing.
This is where your visor card silently, but effectively, works on your behalf. The front of the card immediately alerts the police officers to the fact that there is a communication problem; tells them what the communication problem is; and gives them instructions on how to effectively overcome this problem.
Obtaining Visor Cards of Your Own
Now that you’ve seen just how well visor cards can work for hard of hearing people, you’re probably thinking, “I want one too!” Your next question likely will be, “Where can I get visor cards for my vehicle?”
Although visor cards are available from various agencies in a few states, these cards have one major fault. They lump deaf and hard of hearing people together, as though both groups have similar communication needs. This is just not true.
Now, however, the Center for Hearing Loss Help has designed a visor card that specifically spells out the unique communication needs of hard of hearing people. You can obtain free copies of this visor card by clicking on the following hyperlink; http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/VisorCardHOH.pdf.
The 4-page visor card file is in PDF format. You need Adobe’s free Acrobat Reader, or equivalent program, in order to read PDF files. Most computers have this software already installed. If yours doesn’t, click on the following hyperlink to download your free copy of Acrobat Reader;
http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html.
Print out pages 1 and 2 on regular paper and glue them back to back. (A glue stick works great for this purpose.) Even better, print pages 1 & 2 back-to-back on a sheet of heavier paper (80# card stock works great). Then you don't have to bother gluing the pages together. Cut along the line on page 1 to trim your Visor Card to the correct size. As a bonus, pages 3 and 4 contain a similar card for you to carry in your wallet. Follow the same procedures you used for the Visor Card.
Print out pages 1 and 2 on regular paper and glue them back to back. (A glue stick works great for this purpose.) Even better, print pages 1 and 2 back-to-back on a sheet of heavier paper (80# card stock works great). Then you don't have to bother gluing the pages together.
Cut along the line on page 1 to trim your Visor Card to the correct size.
As a bonus, pages 3 and 4 contain a similar card for you to carry in your wallet. Follow the same procedures you used for the Visor Card.
Then, to make your cards more durable, and to protect them from rain, laminate them on both sides. Office supply stores such as Office Depot, Staples or OfficeMax and some quick print shops such as Kinkos will laminate your cards for you while you wait.
Incidentally, you can have both a Visor Card and a Wallet Card laminated at the same time for one price as they will both fit onto an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of laminate. (Staples laminated both my Visor Card and Wallet Card for just 99 cents.)
When you get home, cut out your cards. When you trim the excess laminate from the Visor Card and/or Wallet Card, do not trim to the paper line. Rather, leave about an eighth inch of laminate around all sides of the cards to completely seal the edges from moisture.
Correctly Placing Your Visor Cards
Your Visor Cards is useless unless they are instantly available whenever you need them. You don’t want to have to rummage around in the glove box or under the seat when you are pulled over. (The cops may think you are reaching for a gun and act accordingly.)
The Visor Card is called a visor card for good reason. You attach it to your sun visor. That way, it is normally out of sight, yet instantly available when needed.
Here’s how to mount it. Fold down your sun visor. Place the Visor Card on your sun visor—right side up facing you when your visor is down. Hold it in place with two elastic bands around both the Visor Card and sun visor.
With the sun visor up, your Visor Card is hidden out of sight so you are not advertising the fact that you are hard of hearing, but it is in place, ready for instant use whenever you need it.
Two Visor Cards are Better than One
So far, I have talked about using just a visor card on the driver’s side. However, you should consider having two visor cards—one for each side. Here’s why.
If you are stopped along a busy highway, especially one with narrow shoulders, sometimes the police officer may go to the passenger-side window because it is safer. Police officers have been hit by vehicles whizzing past, so in such situations, they may choose to play it safe and come to the passenger-side window. As a result, you will want to have Visor Cards for each side of your car.
In addition, if the police suspect that you are driving a get-a-way car, for example, two cops may approach your vehicle at the same time, one on each side. This is another excellent reason to have two visor cards displayed, so both cops instantly know you can’t hear.
Using Your Visor Cards
If you are ever stopped by the police, follow these steps in this order.
Neil Bauman, Ph.D., has successfully coped with a life-long severe hearing loss. He is a hearing loss coping skills specialist, author and speaker. Send your questions to him at neil@hearinglosshelp.com or visit his web site at www.hearinglosshelp.com. The original of this article can be found at http://www.hearinglosshelp.com/VisorCards.htm.