BONNER SPRINGS, Kan. — A “learn-to-ride” motorcycle school in Bonner Springs is breaking new ground for the deaf and hard-of-hearing. Staff want to make sure safety is accessible to everyone.
In addition to serving all other students, Motorcycle Rider University, LLC is now offering classes where an instructor directly communicates with deaf and hard-of-hearing students through American Sign Language.
“Deaf need direct communication,” said rider coach, Mark Kerns. “It’s better to have a deaf person speak directly to another deaf person instead of having an interpreter where you may miss some of the information just trying to divert your eyes back and forth from different people. Really, that’s just something that’s close to my heart. And with me here, I can sign directly to the deaf folks.”
Kerns is the school’s first deaf and hard-of-hearing instructor. In fact, motorcycle riding classes where an instructor directly uses sign language to communicate with students does not exist anywhere else in the U.S.
“I’m pretty proud of that, you know, being able to help in that regard for the deaf motorcyclists. You know, because it’s a safety concept that's most paramount,” said Kerns.
Rest assured, Chris Haulmark feels more at ease as well. He has been deaf since he was one-year-old and says it has been challenging to find riding classes that even provide an interpreter.
“I’m able to express, you know, like my frustrations, if I didn’t understand something or if the instructor told me something I need to know,” said Haulmark. “I found out that this program was gonna have a deaf instructor and I decided man, I’m excited about that. So I’ve been looking forward to taking this class and I’m very happy to be here.”
Both Kerns and Haulmark hope this is the beginning of a long road to progress. As accessibility grows, options broaden.
“I’m happy to try to start this process you know, as the first step. Maybe, you know, ten years from now we can all look back and say there’s deaf programs all over America and, you know, we know that that accessibility will be available and we can improve upon the safety of deaf motorcyclists,” said Haulmark.
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