Deaf students push for admission to military

MORGANTON (AP) — Students and teacher at the North Carolina School for the Deaf are pushing for the right of the hearing-impaired to serve in the military.

The News-Herald of Morganton reported students and teachers from the school went to Washington, D.C., late last week to push for legislation that would allow a test group to enlist in the Air Force.

They endorsed two bills in Congress that would require the Air Force to carry out a program to assess the feasibility of giving people with hearing problems the right to become officers.

Civics teacher David Bird said deaf people should have the right to serve in noncombat roles.

Bird says it’s a matter of deaf people being treated equally with those who can hear.