In West Haven, Connecticut, a Deaf man has achieved his dream by passing the firefighter training test. Joe Cronin wanted to be a firefighter since he was a child. An ASL user, Cronin will lipread and use hand signals to do his job.
Fox News reported Cronin as saying “They’ve accepted me for who I am.” His mother added: “When he wants to do something, he just goes for it. I was scared, but then I realised that he can really do this job.”
Cronin has been cleared for outdoor emergencies like a bush fire or a car fire, but can’t work on emergency calls because he is unable to make a ‘mayday’ call.
The fire chief Jimmy O’Brien said: “I think we learned a heck of a lot more from Joe than he learned from us.”
See Cronin in action in the video at this link: (alas there are no subtitles!)
http://fox4kc.com/2012/06/20/deaf-man-pursues-dream-of-being-a-firefighter/
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Sasha Thorpe
June 22, 2012
😀
Terrry
June 22, 2012
We have deaf firefighters (he is LT) in Alabama for about 5 years (volunteers for about 10 years)
Em Aris
June 23, 2012
Just had the biggest smile when I watched the clip -what a fantastic attitude that young mans got!. Shame no subtitles though.