Company builds network for deaf, blind residents who need alerts when natural disasters strike

From Texas Public Radio:

Many people have become immune to the nonstop weather notifications pinging their phones when severe weather strikes.

But imagine someone with a disability who lives in a rural area where it is difficult to quickly access such crucial information.

Challenges in sending alerts to the deaf and blind community in rural areas continue to exist.

However, the company Deaf Link is working with city and county officials to provide the Accessible Hazard Alert System (AHAS) for people who are deaf, blind, deaf and blind, and literacy challenged.

The alerts are sent to cell phones, tablets, computers, and Braille-compatible devices. Deaf Link provides this service for people in San Antonio, Fort Worth, Dallas, and Austin. It also helps people in Travis, Killeen, Harris, and Fort Bend counties.

Kay Chiodo, the CEO of Deaf Link, explained that “It’s voiced in English or Spanish, depending on what the client has put into their contract. And that text that is there is done in a format that is so simple for Braille readers to pick up and be able to voice for someone who’s blind that depends on Braille. It gives that population, that sensory disability population, access to the same information their hearing counterparts in their community get.”

Chiodo said television stations lack the proper accessible tools for the deaf community to understand unfolding emergency situations.

“I get video calls asking, ‘I saw’ — and this is in sign language — ‘I’ve seen on TV, but there’s no interpreter.’ They don’t have an interpreter on the screen,” Chiodo added. “And if they have one, the cameras aren’t showing them. We don’t know: Are they showing pictures of people who [are] missing or people who are deceased? What are they showing? … It’s heartbreaking.”

Chiodo said people with disabilities may be overlooked in emergency situations like the Guadalupe River floods on July 4. She said the deaf and blind community in rural disaster areas still struggle to receive information from aid groups like FEMA and the Red Cross.

“Even the people who can send information, are so overwhelmed that they may not consider that accessibility part that’s so critical,” she said.

Joe Arrington, the public information officer for San Antonio Fire Department and Emergency Operations Center, added that the partnership with Deaf Link is important so as to “ensure that our residents and the folks in our area that may have some sort of a disability or a limitation have the exact same information, the critical information that we’re getting out to everyone.”

He added that he has advised rural communities to explore options that will help provide the Accessible Hazard Alert System.

“The State of Texas offers all sorts of assistance where these projects can get off the ground to get going,” he explained. “[The] State of Texas Emergency Assistance Registry — that’s a great starting point from that. You can move on to the AHAS and ensure that your operations center, no matter where you are, is utilizing all the tools that you have in your toolbox to communicate effectively in times of emergency [and in] times of disaster.”

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