ANA Discussion Forum
General Category => Inquiries => Topic started by: mma26 on March 19, 2008, 06:50:27 pm
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Hello all I am writing this because I am looking for a little advice/help. First a little background I was diagnosed with my AN during my senior year of high school and had my surgery that same year. I am almost completely deaf in my right ear and hear perfect in the left ear. Now the reason I am posting on here is because I want to become a firefighter and have run into problems. I have applied to a couple of different fire academies and every time the same thing happens. I pass all the required test and I am offered a spot in the academy on the condition that I take and pass a medical exam. Well, part of the exam is a hearing test which I obliviously fail on the right ear. Once I fail I am always told that due to the loss of hearing I am disqualified for the hiring process and not able to enter the academy. I am now 26 and this has been happening to me since I was about 20. Now I know there are National Medical Standards in place for firefighters and hearing loss is part of the medical standards. My question is do I have anyway to get around this problem whether it be a legal issue, or an ADA issue or anything. I have contacted a good amount of people in the firefighting profession and I cant seem to get a straight answer from anyone. So if anyone has been in a similar situation or if anyone can tell me who to contact or just any advice to give I would appreciate it. Like I said I want to become a firefighter and I have been at this for about 6 years and I don’t want to stop trying but it looks like I might have to so any information would help. Thank you.
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thats a tuff one ... can you locate where sound is coming from ? or you 100% deaf in your AN ear?
ps... I removed your other posts.. this is one is good enough .. no biggie...
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well, I am not 100% deaf in my AN ear but I still really cant hear out of it and I guess its bad enough that its causing me not to meet the medical standards. As far as locating where sound is coming from I would say sometimes maybe if I am very focused and concentrating but in gerneral I cant locate. And I do understand that not being able to locate sound is the main reason and could be a safety issue.
thank you
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it would depend on you job responsibities .. if you the one going into a burning building to find someone yelling for help .. you will have no idea if they are left or right! .. I have enough trouble finding my cats at night!! can you specialize in the truck or water pumps? Im sure there are lots of other jobs to do...
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mma26:
The National Medical Standards state: "A medical condition that would preclude a person from performing as a firefighter in a training or emergency operational environment by presenting a significant risk to the safety and health of the person or others" as a bar to employment for someone with your specific handicap (partial deafness).
That is pretty specific. With your SSD (Single Sided Deafness) it would seem to disqualify you for a career as a firefighter. The Americans with Disability Act was meant to protect those with medical conditions or physical limitations that did not affect their performance from being disqualified from a job or profession. One-sided hearing obviously would affect your capability to perform all the functions of a firefighter as it impacts your ability to (as an example) discern sound direction and/or hear feint cries for help in a burning building or to misunderstand instructions from the Captain coming through a static-filled radio during a rescue mission. You could probably function as a dispatcher or other position that compliments firefighters but I doubt you'll have much success trying to find a loophole in the quite reasonable medical standards.
You might want to consider scheduling a consultation with an attorney who handles such cases. To find one, contact your local bar association...they're in the phone book. If he concurs with my opinion, you'll at least know for sure that this particular field is closed to you and be freed to pursue a different career...preferably one that doesn't require excellent hearing in both ears.
I wish you well and, although this is probably not what you wanted to read, I hope the advice is useful to you.
Jim