A Central Florida man said the state of Florida is discriminating against him-- it won't let him take the test to obtain his commercial driver's license because he is deaf.
"I love the big trucks, you know? I'm tired of the little, small cars," said Floyd McClain, speaking through News 6 using an American Sign Language interpreter.
[WEB EXTRA: Federal Register: Hearing Exemption grant from 2013 I Deaf Truckers United]
[Scroll down to see the lawsuit below]
It's not the sounds but the feeling of the open road that McClain is chasing.
"I love traveling," McClain said. "I love going around and driving. I love the beautiful trees and doing that solo, I enjoy that time."
So becoming a commercial truck driver seemed like a logical choice-- except he's deaf.
"There's slight hearing, I have some residual on my right side, none on my left," McClain said.
That sort of deafness is not a problem for dozens of deaf men and women across the country who already have their CDLs
That's because in 2013, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration announced it would grant hearing exemptions to eligible deaf interstate truckers. According to the lawsuit McClain filed against the state of Florida, more than 270 hearing requirement exemptions have been granted. McClain got his waiver-- but still, Florida will not allow him to take the CDL test.
"You have a license and so then why can't I?" McClain asked. "I'm qualified, I went through, I did all of my work for the paperwork to prove with my physical for the federal. I got my necessary waiver for the hearing. I'm ambulatory, I'm a strong guy. I feel good, the only thing is the deafness."
But an email McClain got from the trucking school he briefly attended says the state-- "is prohibiting us from testing deaf students because they have not been given guidance from the federal sector on how to properly and safely administer these tests to individuals who are deaf."
"I feel oppressed, discriminated, I don't have that level of fairness, I don't have that equal opportunity," McClain said.
"The bottom line is they have to allow testing," said attorney Matthew Dietz of Disability Independence Group, who is taking the issue to court for McClain. "People that are deaf in Florida should have the same opportunity to drive trucks or to have any other job that they can do here in the state of Florida."
If other states have figured it out--why hasn't Florida?
"They've never done it before, and they're not really sure how to do it," Dietz said. "The problem is that in order to be tested, you have be able to hear and you have to be able to speak and you're going to have to be able to communicate in English. For people that are deaf, they don't have a way to test people that are deaf for truck drivers. There are hand signals that can be done during testing for left and right, and there are things that can be done by writing back and forth or by using interpreters, there's no real difference. I think once they figure out how to do it, they will, but there always has to be a first."
McClain said it's not even about a safety issue-- he said he's actually a less distracted driver than most.
"I'm following how the truck feels," McClain said. "I have a heightened sensitivity, attentive on visual fields, so because of the decreased auditory, I make up for it with more attentive visually with checking my mirrors. So it's not depending on the hearing for the capability of how to drive.
Example, when ambulances, emergency vehicles, there's a visual cue and I can see that in the mirrors and I know immediately because I'm scanning, I can go ahead and get over. A hearing person, if you're only paying attention on your auditory cues and your music is distracting or these other things, you're pulling over much later, I'm responding when I'm seeing those lights. So there's a natural sensitivity depending on my visual fields."
He even had a job lined up.
"I had a job ready to go," McClain said. "The companies were fine on, 'You go ahead and get your license and we'll move forward,' but that, it all hinged on the license."
McClain said he is hoping that with his lawsuit, he'll be able to finally get his CDL and make it easier for other deaf people to do it, too.
"Some people may not have had the experiences and may have to really double check and think, 'How does this work?,'so we have to go ahead, the deaf community, we have to go through the education process because otherwise it's easier to dismiss and block us. That's hurtful," McClainsaid.
News 6 reached out to Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, but the agency declined to comment because of pending litigation.