What jobs Do CI users go for?

Wild Fire

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Me I wanted to join the armed forces. Like the Marines,Army,Air Force I got denied entry which pissed me off. So I joined my local Fire Dept and they accepted me on the first day gave me all essentials Pager, Gear.

But my dream jobs are ATF,DEA,FBI,SWAT,State police,LAPD,NYPD.
Do you know if theres any chance I could ge those type of Law enforcement jobs? Plus I'm planning on going Career at my Fire dept if it works out for me.
 
Those are jobs where losing your CI in the line of duty is a matter of life and death. You got lucky.
 
Wild Fire said:
Me I wanted to join the armed forces. Like the Marines,Army,Air Force I got denied entry which pissed me off. So I joined my local Fire Dept and they accepted me on the first day gave me all essentials Pager, Gear.

But my dream jobs are ATF,DEA,FBI,SWAT,State police,LAPD,NYPD.
Do you know if theres any chance I could ge those type of Law enforcement jobs? Plus I'm planning on going Career at my Fire dept if it works out for me.

Wake up and smell the roses! Get over it. If you have a CI, there isn't a chance for a snowball in a very hot place for you to get one of these jobs. There are many others you can do instead. The reasons you won't get one of these is very, very simple...these jobs require a complicated interaction between sight and hearing to even have a chance to be successful. There are many "normal" sighted and hearing people who can't do these jobs. Having one CI isn't going to do it and having two isn't a whole lot better and in either case you have that against you.

First of all, what are you going to do when your batteries decide to die on you and you are in the middle of a firefight. You can't say "timeout" let me change my batteries. So, now your batteries are dead and you can't hear and you hope that you can change them quickly. Unfortunately, at the time you were changing them (so being deaf for the moment), the radio blurted "get out of there ASAP" as things are deterioating all around you. There you are all alone and in a very dangerous situation and the possibility exist that you will not make it. You just created a problem for yourself and your team as they have to assist you all because your "bionic ear" either conked out or was knocked off somehow (Vampyrox). Heck, it could even be that a bullet gazed your head where your implant is and either damaged or destroyed it. Helmets don't always protect you from this problem.

Second of all, let's say your CI is functioning and it fine during this firefight. Well, with one CI, you can't tell direction of sound and that makes you a liability as it is absolutely critical that you know where sounds are coming from. While having two CI can assist there, it is still not quite as good as two good ears. Have a CI(s) doesn't give you normal hearing as there are sounds you need to hear but are two low for you to hear. I know this for a fact as I have a CI. Normal hearing people can hear the thunder at a great distance whereas I can't hear it until it is a little closer.

That brings up another thing...during action like this, it is often very loud. Have you ever tried to understand somebody talking over all that racket? It is bad enough for normal hearing people but it is really that much harder using a CI. You miss something important and your effective is compromised big time.

Now, I'm very surprised that the fire department allowed you to join them. More power to you! IMHO, I believe there may be situations that you will find out the hard way that "hey" normal hearing would be a nice thing at the time.

I'm a realist and I know my limits and I accept them in the context of jobs that may require normal (often superb) sight/hearing interaction. There is no way one can "substitute" this by being a quick thinker on one's feet. The one who survives is the one who has this advantage.
 
sr171soars said:
Wake up and smell the roses! Get over it. If you have a CI, there isn't a chance for a snowball in a very hot place for you to get one of these jobs. There are many others you can do instead. The reasons you won't get one of these is very, very simple...these jobs require a complicated interaction between sight and hearing to even have a chance to be successful. There are many "normal" sighted and hearing people who can't do these jobs. Having one CI isn't going to do it and having two isn't a whole lot better and in either case you have that against you.

First of all, what are you going to do when your batteries decide to die on you and you are in the middle of a firefight. You can't say "timeout" let me change my batteries. So, now your batteries are dead and you can't hear and you hope that you can change them quickly. Unfortunately, at the time you were changing them (so being deaf for the moment), the radio blurted "get out of there ASAP" as things are deterioating all around you. There you are all alone and in a very dangerous situation and the possibility exist that you will not make it. You just created a problem for yourself and your team as they have to assist you all because your "bionic ear" either conked out or was knocked off somehow (Vampyrox). Heck, it could even be that a bullet gazed your head where your implant is and either damaged or destroyed it. Helmets don't always protect you from this problem.

Second of all, let's say your CI is functioning and it fine during this firefight. Well, with one CI, you can't tell direction of sound and that makes you a liability as it is absolutely critical that you know where sounds are coming from. While having two CI can assist there, it is still not quite as good as two good ears. Have a CI(s) doesn't give you normal hearing as there are sounds you need to hear but are two low for you to hear. I know this for a fact as I have a CI. Normal hearing people can hear the thunder at a great distance whereas I can't hear it until it is a little closer.

That brings up another thing...during action like this, it is often very loud. Have you ever tried to understand somebody talking over all that racket? It is bad enough for normal hearing people but it is really that much harder using a CI. You miss something important and your effective is compromised big time.

Now, I'm very surprised that the fire department allowed you to join them. More power to you! IMHO, I believe there may be situations that you will find out the hard way that "hey" normal hearing would be a nice thing at the time.

I'm a realist and I know my limits and I accept them in the context of jobs that may require normal (often superb) sight/hearing interaction. There is no way one can "substitute" this by being a quick thinker on one's feet. The one who survives is the one who has this advantage.


Actually My dept has dealt with this type of situation. We had a kid who was deaf and couldnt speak well. In fact I'm very unique I talk like a normal person hear almost like a normal person. Yes you have a very good point about the fire fight. I'm a tough Chick I can handle myself. In fact there is another local dept that has a deaf Fire Fighter w/ hearing aides I tried talking to him he kept saying huh? huh? I wanna show people with CI's that there is hope out there. Yes It's very hard to hear in this type of situation but when you have the SCBA Fire gear Helmet,Oxygen tanks Normal fire fighters hearing is diminshed also so it's kinda evened out.
 
Wild Fire said:
Yes It's very hard to hear in this type of situation but when you have the SCBA Fire gear Helmet,Oxygen tanks Normal fire fighters hearing is diminshed also so it's kinda evened out.

I never thought about that. Do you use any kind of signs with each other because of all the apparatus? I know there's a kind of sign system that SCUBA divers use (don't know if it's based on ASL) so it would seem like common sense to use signs in these situations.

Good luck with the job! You do sound like a tough chick. I used to have a book about a deaf paramedic, but of course now I can't find it or remember the name. Perhaps someone here will know. He described the challenges he faced in his job but also his successes.
 
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