The State of Texas in United States of America has hired its first Deaf female officer in the person of Erica Trevino, who also became the second deaf female police officer to be hired in the whole United States of America, INN reports from source.
Otis Sizemore, who is a member of the Texas Association of the Deaf in America took quality time to have a heart to heart discussion with Erica who shared her thoughts about been hired as a Deaf police officer in Texas. INN brings you the excerpts of the interview conducted with Otis.
Read below…
I am very excited today! I am going to interview and introduce to you Erica. Please introduce yourself?
Hi, my name is Erica Trevino. I am from Amarillo, and I have moved to Dalhart. I just got hired as the first deaf female police officer in Texas, second female deaf police officer in America.
On behalf of Texas Association of the Deaf, we want to tell you congratulations! And thank you for your hard work to become a police officer. Now I am going to ask you some questions. Now that you have become a police officer, what were your barriers as a deaf/hard-of-hearing person to get this job?
A lot of challenges. It was a very hard path. A lot of people looked down at me and thought I could not do it. Negatives attitudes. But I ignored them and stayed focused on my job, school, and the police academy. I graduated 3rd rank in my class. I decided to keep on working and continued to apply for the police officer job. Dalhart (shows how to sign the city Dalhart)…I met all of the police officers at Dalhart Police Department and they all said “You can do it” and that they had faith in me. They also said “We believe in you.” So they asked me to start working with them. I said “Sure!” So now here I am, I will start soon working with probation. I will get a patrol car, show up wherever they need me to be and also deal with traffic, too. Don’t speed please!
Now you as a police officer, what would you like to tell to all of the deaf people out there?
Anything is possible if you work hard for it. Nothing is easy, especially for us (deaf people). A lot of people might be negative or have bad attitudes but just ignore them. Focus on positive people. Make your life positive. And work hard, more harder than anyone else and you will be fine, I promise. Follow your dream, whether it’s to be a doctor, lawyer, or a police officer like me. Obviously I did it and you can do it, too. I love y’all.
Now I would like to ask you why do you want to become a police officer?
I have been wanting to become a police officer since when I was 5 years old. But people said no to me. I believed them and accepted that. I tried to go in a different path such as ultrasound or work in the medical, but my heart was not in it. So I decided “You know what? I am fed up with people being negative on deaf people saying they can’t do it.” I am tired of it. So I said “I will do it and I am going to become a police officer.” So I worked hard and now here I am as a hired police officer.
On behalf of Texans, we want to say congratulations on your successful of following your dream.
Thank you.
Wow! You can do it! Continue to follow your dream! See you around.
I love y’all.
Have your say…what do you think?
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