What would you do if you found out that your driver is deaf and mute? A Chinese passenger who hailed a private car on a ride-hailing app didn’t discover that his driver was deaf and mute until he had arrived at the destination.

On July 1, a passenger identified as Zhou in Xi’an City, northwest China’s Shaanxi Province, hailed a private car on China’s ride-hailing app Didi Chuxing. Unlike other Didi drivers, this driver didn’t make a phone call to Zhou before he arrived and kept silent even when Zhou confirmed with him whether he had got in the right car. However, Zhou only found the driver a little bit odd but didn’t take it as a big deal.

What made Zhou more confused was that the driver failed to respond to any of his suggestions to change the route when they came across a traffic jam midway. And he noticed that the driver just kept looking ahead and took a glance at the navigation system from time to time.

As the car nearly reached the destination, Zhou told the driver to pull up but he seemingly didn’t hear it and still kept driving. Anxiously, Zhou patted the driver on the shoulder and gave him a sign that he could stop. After communicating with the driver, Zhou realized that he was deaf and mute.

Zhou later informed the company about this issue and asked how they reviewed the qualifications of their drivers. However, he was told by a customer service staff member that the driver did have a hearing problem and was given a refund.

However, despite the good gestures of offering job opportunities to disabled people, Zhou still had concerns on the safety issues as deaf and mute drivers have difficulties recognizing abnormal sounds while they are driving.

The company later responded on July 27 that it was available for them to hire people with hearing and talking disabilities to be drivers as long as they had three years of driving experience and no other physical and mental disabilities regarding eye-sight, hands and feet, reported Huashang Newspaper. 

The company added that since disabled workers shared the same employment qualifications as normal workers, they were managed under the same regulations in the workplace.

According to the country’s department of transport, deaf and mute people who meet the requirements of the regulations on the application and use of motor vehicle driver's license issued by the Ministry of Public Security are allowed to apply for a driving license, which means that they need to be able to distinguish the direction of sound. 

People with hearing disorders who meet the standards by wearing hearing aids are also allowed to apply for driving licenses of small cars. However, no regulations on language disorders were listed.

The legal recruitment of deaf and mute drivers in China has divided social media as some netizens show their concerns on safety issues while others believe there are no problems with deaf and mute drivers.

“It is okay for a driver to be mute, but having a hearing disability can cause a safety concern, because sometimes drivers need to distinguish the driving conditions by hearing the sound of honk,” commented a user @gezhonggezhongzenmeban on Sina Weibo.

“I have no discrimination against deaf and mute drivers, but I think the customers’ demands should be at least satisfied during the journey. [Drivers] should at least have the ability to communicate,” commented a user @biaoqingbaoxiaoxiannv on Weibo.

“These people are just deaf and mute rather than blind,” commented a user @longlongzai on Weibo.

“It will be fine as long as he has a driving license!” a user @jinlixiaoge commented on Weibo.