Lyft Is Hiring a Lot of Deaf Drivers

Writing at Medium earlier this year, Daniel J. Conway, a self-professed huge fan of the app-based ride service Lyft, described a trip he'd taken with a deaf driver. The driver, who could speak, told Conway he was deaf and handed him a pen and pad to write his destination. The driver told Conway to put on any radio station he'd like—try hearing that from a cabbie—and they exchanged a few more notes during the trip. "I now pay Lyft for the experience," Conway realized, "not for the rides."

What makes Conway's unusual experience so noteworthy is that evidently it's not all that unusual. Other bloggers have written about their own Lyft trips with deaf drivers. Earlier this month, a Fox affiliate in Modesto reported that a sign language instructor named Mark Medina actively recruits and trains drivers for the pink-mustachioed ride service. A Lyft driver named Jibril Jaha uses* an app that helps deaf drivers converse with passengers via smartphones and smart watches.