Hearing impaired boy creates special placard to help hearing impaired drivers identify themselves to the police

Jack lost his hearing after he came down with meningitis as a child. He has cochlear implants.

He started having driving lessons, he started thinking about the challenges other hearing impaired drivers could face on the road.

So he created a special placard that can be displayed by hearing impaired drivers, so that police officers know they may have trouble understanding their commands.

“I wanted to make an impact in the community and I thought this was the right thing to do. I just want to make it easier for the deaf driver to tell the officer about his or her situation," he explained.

Jack pitched the idea for the safety placard to his local police officers (from Frisco, Texas) in 2018, has been meeting with other officers ever since to create awareness around hearing impaired drivers and show them how his device could help.

The Frisco police embraced the idea and have made the placards available to drivers at police headquarters. The student highlighted hearing impaired drivers who read lips may have trouble understanding officer commands, especially during nighttime traffic stops. "Officers come to their vehicle with a flashlight. They're unable to see your mouth and they don't know what you're saying and then they tend to get frustrated”, the inventor said.

Although Texas drivers have the option of including a notice on their driver license or identification card that indicates the driver has a communication impediment and the notice appears on the back of the license and can be included with a written letter from a doctor, the placards can make a difference by providing earlier notification to the officer.

Jack now hopes to partner with more Texas police departments.

Adapted from: https://bit.ly/2JIYVuu
https://youtu.be/sOFImnvOQBg