New guy here with special circumstance..

[deafCHL]

Hello. New guy here. I live in Rye, which is somewhere between Livingston and Cleveland. I live here about half time, other half with my kids in Louisiana. Since Louisiana is my native state, that's where I got my CHL. My fiancee, however, is from Santa Fe, Texas, which is close to Galveston. We only recently moved to Rye. Now that we've been together so long and she sees my interest in security, self-defense, concealed carry, etc., she is expressing an interest in getting her concealed handgun license. Problem is... we're both deaf.

Its extremely difficult for a deaf student to follow a class of any size accurately. I had sign language interpreters in all my classes in college. The same goes for my fiancee, Misty. The thing is, Misty needs to take a class that will be easy for her to follow, such as the entire lecture being displayed on PowerPoint or perhaps printed on text of some sort, like a booklet. She and I would prefer to have interpreters, but I'm not quite sure who pays for the interpreter.

So, if anyone has any information on how to help her, especially in the Livingston/Cleveland area, I would greatly appreciate that.

Thanks and I look forward to hearing from everyone here.

[KingofChaos]

This may not be helpful to you because it's such a long drive, about 100 miles, and usually I wouldn't even think of recommending it, but given your circumstances, it seems like a good match. The place is called CHL Now and there website is http://www.chlnow.com/. The lecture is accompanied/read off of a powerpoint and at the end of the class, you are given a study sheet to look over before the exam is passed out. Someone with only the ability to read the material would be more than capable of attending and passing this CHL course. I wish I could offer you help that was closer to Rye, and I wish you the best of luck in finding something suitable for your wife.

[longtooth]

I have helped some that are nearly deaf but not completely.
PM to you.

[RiverCity.45]

Very interesting challenge. I guess for the shooting portion, some sort to visual cue would be be needed, since it is a timed test. Any instructors here solved that one?

[RoyGBiv]

Since you have a Louisiana license, and Louisiana does not issue permits to non-residents, one possible solution for YOU would be to get a Florida non-resident permit. You should (not certain) be able to use your proof of training in LA to satisfy the FL requirement. Carrying as a TX resident with FL (or other) non-resident permit has a few drawbacks. For example, you don't get the exemption to the Federal gun free school zone act, and your non-res license would not be recognized in a few states (ex: Colorado) who only recognize a reciprocal CHL from your state of residence. If you are willing to live with the drawbacks, you might choose to go that route.

For your fiancee, sounds like she is starting from scratch (no previous license)?? Not sure what to suggest for her if that is the case.. I'm sure the good folks here will have some recommendations for you both.

[deafCHL]

I have helped some that are nearly deaf but not completely.
PM to you.

You def got my attention.

[Crossfire]

Very interesting challenge. I guess for the shooting portion, some sort to visual cue would be be needed, since it is a timed test. Any instructors here solved that one?

Actually, getting deaf students through the shooting portion is much easier than getting all the classroom info to them. Even though we use a printed lesson plan, and a PowerPoint presentation, there is a lot of info that comes up in the discussion that is missed.

For the shooting test, the instructor stands behind the student, gestures how many to load and how many to fire, and then taps the student on the shoulder to begin fire and cease fire.

I have not had a totally deaf student in class that did not bring an interpretor, although we have had students who were partially deaf, and we managed to get through it.

[johnson0317]

Fascinating post. Very thought provoking. It led me into wondering how difficult it is to assess a threat when you can not hear what is being said. I assume you both are very good at interpreting body language and facial expressions. You also can't hear someone coming up on you. I have always had an ability, usually, to tell when someone is looking at me, or standing behind me. I really don't want to sound ignorant, but is this sense something that becomes more developed when deaf in the way many blind people have much better senses of hearing?

RJ

[rmr1923]

This may not be helpful to you because it's such a long drive, about 100 miles, and usually I wouldn't even think of recommending it, but given your circumstances, it seems like a good match. The place is called CHL Now and there website is http://www.chlnow.com/. The lecture is accompanied/read off of a powerpoint and at the end of the class, you are given a study sheet to look over before the exam is passed out. Someone with only the ability to read the material would be more than capable of attending and passing this CHL course. I wish I could offer you help that was closer to Rye, and I wish you the best of luck in finding something suitable for your wife.

i'll second this recommendation. Randy is a great guy and went out of his way to accommodate me when i took my course last year. send him an email and let him know your situation, i'm sure he'll find a way to get your fiance through the course. he offers courses 7 days a week.

[deafCHL]

Fascinating post. Very thought provoking. It led me into wondering how difficult it is to assess a threat when you can not hear what is being said. I assume you both are very good at interpreting body language and facial expressions. You also can't hear someone coming up on you. I have always had an ability, usually, to tell when someone is looking at me, or standing behind me. I really don't want to sound ignorant, but is this sense something that becomes more developed when deaf in the way many blind people have much better senses of hearing?

RJ

This reminds me of a VERY scary story. One morning, about 2:30, fiancee and I both sound asleep, I "felt" a strong beam of light in my face. I woke to see an LEO standing at the foot of my bed with his flashlight in my face. When I noticed it was an LEO, I immediately told him that she and I are both deaf, and we need to get our hearing aids. He told us that he received a 911 call at fiancee's apartment and had been banging on doors and windows for 20 minutes. Nobody, not me, fiancee nor her kids (kids not deaf) heard him. So, believing it was a legitimate 911 call, he proceeded to kick in the apartment door and investigate. Turns out, 911 dispatcher had wrong apartment number.

Now she has a house, but if a burglar makes an entry with just me and her here, we'd never hear it.

Scary.

[Reloader]

Contact Bear Arms on 190 W outside of Livingston. He may have some suggestions.936-967-3633

[ELB]

Now she has a house, but if a burglar makes an entry with just me and her here, we'd never hear it.

Scary.

Yikes, that is scary. I suppose your run-of-the-mill burglar alarm is not going to cut it either. Perhaps a burglar alarm could be rigged up to flashing lights and something that would vibrate the beds? Or a pager device?

If anything, even more important for a fire alarm...

[srothstein]

Now she has a house, but if a burglar makes an entry with just me and her here, we'd never hear it.

Scary.

Yikes, that is scary. I suppose your run-of-the-mill burglar alarm is not going to cut it either. Perhaps a burglar alarm could be rigged up to flashing lights and something that would vibrate the beds? Or a pager device?

If anything, even more important for a fire alarm...

Lots of alarms are rigged to flash lights. I have even seen it rigged to flash a light if the phone rings (connected to a TTY device). I have not heard of it, but I think something rigged to vibrate the bed for a burglar or fire alarm would be a great idea.

[chasfm11]

Now she has a house, but if a burglar makes an entry with just me and her here, we'd never hear it.

Scary.

Yikes, that is scary. I suppose your run-of-the-mill burglar alarm is not going to cut it either. Perhaps a burglar alarm could be rigged up to flashing lights and something that would vibrate the beds? Or a pager device?

If anything, even more important for a fire alarm...

Actually, many of the higher priced wired alarms have a relay that picks when the alarm condition is set. It doesn't take much to turn the closed points of that relay into just about anything else that you want - strobes or even opening or closing doors. It will take someone other than the cookie cutter alarm installers to do it, however.

[couzin]

My ex-wife's parents were deaf. Her dad rigged the doorbell with flashing lights and the beds with a motor to vibrate it when the alarm clock went off. This was in the late 1960s. Surely something exists today in the way of intrusion systems specifically for hearing impaired. BTW - the two of them could feel vibrations and 'noises' that I sure couldn't but they were always spot on. No 'sneakin' up on em either - way heightened sensitivity.