Deaf-blind advocate takes on service providers

From The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:

Do I seem like a dangerous person or just a frustrated person?" Richard McGann (pictures left with an interpreter) asked after explaining his flaps with bureaucracies that cannot or will not provide the accommodations his deaf-blindness requires.

"I want people to understand that I am friendly. I get so tired of the negativity of people who do not understand deaf-blindness. Sometimes I do explode."

Mr. McGann, 54, is a big man. His spoken words, though not always easy to understand, are sometimes louder than expected, his gestures sometimes intense. But he hardly seems dangerous.

He and I had been exchanging e-mails for a couple of weeks about the problems deaf-blind people experience with bus drivers, police officers, hospitals and other service providers.

Now we are sitting at the kitchen table in his Brookline home, and I am discovering what it means when a person's most important sense is touch. "I have 10 ears and 10 eyes," Mr. McGann explains. "On my fingertips."

Seated with us is a sign language interpreter who spells my words into Mr. McGann's right hand. He, in turn, spells his thoughts into hers so she can speak them. Although the situation is strange and new for me, the conversation flows quickly and smoothly.

But here the conditions for communication are ideal. That's not always the case for Mr. McGann and others for whom American Sign Language is a primary language. When Mr. McGann is in a new situation and a trained interpreter is not available, communication must be cobbled together. Mr. McGann communicates primarily through touch, and for some people, that will be outside the comfort zone.

Mr. McGann bumps up against that comfort zone as a frequent rider on ACCESS, the door-to-door shared-ride service for seniors and people with disabilities sponsored by the Port Authority of Allegheny County. Mr. McGann is well known to ACCESS because of his frequent complaints about service.

Not just complaints about mistakes, like being dropped off at the wrong location, something he says happened four times in one year, but persistent grievances, such as drivers who refuse to communicate in the manner he prefers or who handle him in a perfunctory way, such as buckling his seatbelt around both him and his briefcase.