He's deaf and driving for Uber

As an UberX driver-partner since March this year, Mr Roland Goh, 45, has made over 2,900 trips, driving between 14 and 16 hours daily and making an average of 30 trips each day.

But he is not your average Uber driver. Mr Goh has been deaf since the age of one after a bout of high fever.

He is among some 20 driver-partners of Uber who have benefitted from its Beethoven programme, which introduces deaf-friendly features to its existing app to allow deaf or hard of hearing drivers to pick up passengers.

The programme, named after composer Ludwig van Beethoven whose hearing deteriorated in his 20s, helps deaf drivers like Mr Goh.

They get special assistance in getting notified of an incoming passenger request by flashing lights in the app, on top of the existing audio notification.

Passengers will also be sent an alert informing them that their driver is deaf. They cannot call these drivers - that option is turned off - but they may send a text message to provide special instructions.

An extra prompt is given to passengers to enter their destination ahead of their trip.

So far, it has been fairly seamless. He even has a high driver rating of more than four stars.

Mr Goh told The New Paper at the launch event of Beethoven on Monday through an interpreter: "Some passengers who are riding with me for the first time are curious and will ask if I can drive (because of my disability) and whether I can hear cars honking.

"I will reassure them and tell them not to worry as I have my hearing aid on. They are usually okay after that and will even compliment me on doing a good job driving them to their destinations."

Mr Goh engages his passengers through gestures, simple sign language or handwritten note exchanges to ease communication between himself and his passengers.

He provides a small clipboard with loose sheets of paper placed in between him and the passenger seat so that passengers can write down instructions.

He also has a sign that reads "Hi, I'm hearing impaired. If (you) need to communicate with me, feel free to use the paper provided. Have a nice trip."

PRESSURE

He said: "If they have a ring on their finger, I will gesture and strike a conversation with them about it.

"It's usually about something fun and light-hearted. When they smile, I will also have a smile on my face," said Mr Goh, who drives a white Toyota Sienta.

Previously, Mr Goh was a delivery driver and a chauffeur and he admitted that he faced some "pressure" at times due to miscommunication.

This pressure, he said, was part of the reason he left.

He has not faced discrimination as an UberX driver, but admitted that having patience is a big part of it.

"Sometimes, passengers are in a rush, and sometimes I might have driven them to the wrong destination due to a miscommunication.

"It's part and parcel of the job, I just have to be patient. We both also need mutual respect," he said.

His biggest gripe before this job was the lack of time with his family.

Mr Goh has three daughters, aged between nine and 12 years old. His wife works in a bank.

His job as an UberX driver has given him the flexibility to spend more time with his family and, sometimes, to send his daughters to school.

Now, just to be with them, he does not work on Sundays and some Saturdays.

He also now takes home a higher income of between $3,000 and $4,000.

To share his experiences as a driver partner with Uber, Mr Goh even started a WhatsApp group with other deaf Uber drivers. They occasionally meet up to chat and to exchange tips.

He hopes there can be new app updates to further improve communication between passengers and drivers like him.

"Features like notifications in the form of vibrations on a device connected to our wrists will help us even further. I hope Uber can come up with more features like that," he said.