Deaf Colorado Springs Truck Driver Earns National Professionalism Award! Tato
Since he was very young, Richard Boehrer has been fascinated with trucks. As a small child, he played with toy trucks and dreamed of the day when he would be behind the wheel of an actual big rig.
When he was a teenager, Boehrer asked his uncle, a professional truck driver, what it would take to pursue a career in the trucking business. His uncle told him it would be impossible, because Boehrer was born deaf.
Those words, discouraged Boehrer. But he went after his dream anyway.
“They say deaf people can’t be a truck driver,” Boehrer said. “I want to show them that the deaf can do things — people think the deaf can’t, but the deaf can.”
Not only has he proven his uncle wrong — he’s been driving a big rig for Colorado-based Knight Transportation for 10 years — Boehrer was recently recognized as being one of the top truckers in the industry.
In March, the Truckload Carriers Association named Boehrer a Professional Driver of the Year for 2023.
Driving professionally with a hearing deficit is not without its challenges. For example, if Boehrer punctures a tire, he can’t hear the telltale hissing sound of escaping air.
But as a veteran driver with more than a million miles on the road, Boehrer can feel if something’s not right with his truck, he said. When that happens, he uses a spray bottle on his tires. The air bubbles will tell him where the leak is.
“(Deaf people) can meet challenges in the things that we do with our jobs and be successful,” he said.
Boehrer cannot use a conventional telephone or CB radio, but he can communicate with his terminal manager via text or with a Video Relay Service. With the VRS, an American Sign Language-based telecommunication service, Boehrer can sign to an interpreter, who then relays the message to his manager.
Terminal manager Chris Schell said Boehrer is one of the company’s safest and most professional drivers.
“He uses his disability as an opportunity to prove people wrong — I think that’s what he loves to do,” Schell said.
As one of the TCA’s five Professional Drivers of the Year, Boehrer was recognized last month at the organization’s annual convention in Orlando, Fla., where he received a $20,000 cash prize. But more than the money, Boehrer relishes the opportunity to inspire other deaf people who may be considering a career in the trucking industry. He wants them to know that, regardless of what naysayers might tell them, it can be done.
“I would like to let deaf people know that they can get involved,” he said. “They can become truck drivers. It just depends on people feeling they can do it.”