Tulsa deaf community responds to OKC shooting

We live in a world of sounds. Sounds we often take for granted. But take those sounds away, and this world becomes a very quiet and scary place.

Renee Sites, who's been deaf for more than twenty years now, agrees.

She works for TSHA, a non profit, serving deaf and hard of hearing people in Tulsa.

Sites, who is also deaf, told us the about the time she was pulled over by a police officer.

"And the police man didn't come up to the window. And I had my window down, I had my hands on the wheel, I was ready," she said.

Seconds seemed like hours as Sites desperately tried to convey to the officer she was deaf.

"I knew he was there, and I knew he was probably shouting at me, but I couldn't respond, because I couldn't hear what he was saying," said Sites. "So what I had to do was point to my ear and shake my head."

The situation was eventually resolved, but Sites says things like this happen all too often with deaf people.

Like the recent shooting death of a deaf man by police in Oklahoma City.

"So now, deaf people are very nervous. We're very scared," said Sites.

Sites and other people with hearing disabilities are hoping events like the one held on Thursday night in Tulsa will help.

A speaker series, put on by Tulsa Community College, featuring people who live, work and research in the deaf community.

But Sites said there's a lesson to be learned from all this.

"We understand the police and their need to be safe. We see both sides. And it's so important for both sides to work together to figure out a solution, so we can understand each other," she said.

And she's hoping police will take note.

"Learn. Take training. Learn how to communicate with deaf people. Learn how to respond to people that may not respond the way you expect them to to your verbal command," said Sites.