Miss-Delectable
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For the deaf, talking and driving don't mix - Salt Lake Tribune
Curious about the impact that using sign language while driving can have on a deaf driver, a group of sixth-graders at Salt Lake City's Jean Massieu School for the Deaf decided to conduct an experiment.
They took turns operating a driver-training simulator while having a conversation with a passenger. Students learned signing and driving can be more dangerous than driving alone.
"A deaf person with a friend in the car typically had more accidents than when alone," said Riverton sixth-grader Tres Diaz through an interpreter.
Diaz, Sandy's Isicc Prettypaint and Daybreak's Parker Holt will take their findings to the Rochester Institute of Technology National Science Fair for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in New York starting March 20.
At the fair, students will present science projects on a broad range of topics, including deaf issues, and will compete for cash prizes.
"[Tres'] interest in science has really taken off this year," said Minnie Mae Wilding-Diaz, Tres' mom, a deaf woman who has been driving for 14 years and has never gotten into an accident.
"I've kind of had a different result [in my own driving and signing]," said Wilding-Diaz, who uses the rearview mirror to sign to her three deaf children in the back seat. "You have to be careful that you don't drift in your lane."
The students got the idea for their project from their teacher, Jordana Flavin, a hearing person who learned sign language after giving birth to two deaf daughters. Flavin's daughters -- seventh-grader Madeline and fourth-grader Kennedy -- both attend Jean Massieu School for the Deaf.
"I went back [to school] to get my master's so I could learn everything that I could to help them," Flavin said. "That's why I'm teaching here."
Flavin will accompany the boys on their first-ever visit to Rochester, N.Y.
After a few hours of data collecting, the young scientists-in-training let down their hair.
"After the experiment, we let them have as much fun as they wanted," Flavin said. "They would go as fast as they could."
Quiet for most of the interview, Isicc perked up when discussing the post-experiment fun.
"When I was driving, I went like 122," he said through an interpreter, smiling. "There was this fire truck in front of me, and I didn't see it and almost ran into it."
Isicc is still a few years away from getting his own license. In the mean time, he might want to learn a few pointers from Wilding-Diaz, whose perfect driving record when driving and signing is still intact.
Curious about the impact that using sign language while driving can have on a deaf driver, a group of sixth-graders at Salt Lake City's Jean Massieu School for the Deaf decided to conduct an experiment.
They took turns operating a driver-training simulator while having a conversation with a passenger. Students learned signing and driving can be more dangerous than driving alone.
"A deaf person with a friend in the car typically had more accidents than when alone," said Riverton sixth-grader Tres Diaz through an interpreter.
Diaz, Sandy's Isicc Prettypaint and Daybreak's Parker Holt will take their findings to the Rochester Institute of Technology National Science Fair for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students in New York starting March 20.
At the fair, students will present science projects on a broad range of topics, including deaf issues, and will compete for cash prizes.
"[Tres'] interest in science has really taken off this year," said Minnie Mae Wilding-Diaz, Tres' mom, a deaf woman who has been driving for 14 years and has never gotten into an accident.
"I've kind of had a different result [in my own driving and signing]," said Wilding-Diaz, who uses the rearview mirror to sign to her three deaf children in the back seat. "You have to be careful that you don't drift in your lane."
The students got the idea for their project from their teacher, Jordana Flavin, a hearing person who learned sign language after giving birth to two deaf daughters. Flavin's daughters -- seventh-grader Madeline and fourth-grader Kennedy -- both attend Jean Massieu School for the Deaf.
"I went back [to school] to get my master's so I could learn everything that I could to help them," Flavin said. "That's why I'm teaching here."
Flavin will accompany the boys on their first-ever visit to Rochester, N.Y.
After a few hours of data collecting, the young scientists-in-training let down their hair.
"After the experiment, we let them have as much fun as they wanted," Flavin said. "They would go as fast as they could."
Quiet for most of the interview, Isicc perked up when discussing the post-experiment fun.
"When I was driving, I went like 122," he said through an interpreter, smiling. "There was this fire truck in front of me, and I didn't see it and almost ran into it."
Isicc is still a few years away from getting his own license. In the mean time, he might want to learn a few pointers from Wilding-Diaz, whose perfect driving record when driving and signing is still intact.