Deaf community needs emergency broadcast information
As we move into tornado season for many in the Midwest and south, we are once again running into problems getting emergency broadcasters to display weather emergencies for the hard of hearing. Most of the alerts that are sent by weather reporting bureaus is on the form of an audible alert explaining what to do and how much time you have to react. For the hearing impaired there is no guidance from the FCC or other governmental agencies to force emergency broadcasts to be in large words on television screens. This means that the deaf or hard of hearing community must depend on friends and family to contact them so they know they are in danger. If a tornado is on the area there may not be time for family or friends to come by and let them know the danger. This creates a scenario where hundreds or thousands could be injured or killed because they have no way of knowing they are in danger. It is unreasonable for police or fire officials to go from house to house as a tornado warning may only give five minutes to get to the basement.
A possible solution would be to call the hard of hearing using a TDD so that they know that there is danger that needs to be addressed. With TDD calls and large text messages on all cable and satellite channels will go a long way to keep the hard of hearing safe. New technologies will certainly make it easier to let the various disabled communities that they are in danger and must take shelter. It is also important to push the meteorologists to give the communities more time to deal with tornadoes, hail, lightening, or other dangerous issues that must be handled. Those in wheelchairs could take considerable time to get down stairs to the point where the storm will always hit before the disabled can get to safety in their basement. We need to let the FCC and our congressmen how important it is to keep everyone safe during an emergency and that all groups need to be thought of for any alarm system. Forgetting about the disabled communities will guarantee that we will have casualties that could have easily been avoided. This is why the disabled must become activists in their communities so officials are reminded of who needs to be protected.
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