The Ministry of Works and Transport (MOWT), in collaboration with the Trinidad and Tobago Association for the Hearing Impaired (TTAHI), the Deaf Empowerment and Advancement Foundation (DEAF) and the Caribbean Sign Language Center for Leadership (CSLCL) have designed a special regulations exam; that will today, for the first time in Trinidad and Tobago, enable ten (10) hearing impaired citizens to sit driving regulations exams at the Licensing Division, Wrightson Road, Port of Spain.
This specially designed regulations exam, entitled the Deaf Assistance with Regulations Exams (DARE), was born to alleviate the difficulties experienced by the hearing impaired in passing regulations exam in the past and finding a way to facilitate them more practically.
To prepare these special students for this momentous occasion, intense training sessions were conducted by teachers from the CSLCL, who engaged in hours long lessons that comprised visuals and drama to recreate scenarios involving policemen, traffic signs and signals and playing true/false games to answer legitimate regulations exam questions.
Moreover, while specially formulated to meet the needs of the hearing impaired, the students who are sitting DARE today will be doing the exact same exams as their hearing peers, with the only exception being the presence of a sign language interpreter.
Interpreter Ms. Nicole Paul, left gives instructions to the hearing-impaired citizens who are about to sit their driving regulations exam.
Motor Vehicle Officers are also expected to undergo sign language training in order to effectively interact with the increased presence of hearing impaired citizens on our nation’s roads.