On December 16,
the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) announced efforts to
better serve Hurricane Sandy survivors who are deaf, hard of hearing or
blind by providing the New York disaster recovery centers with a number
of technologies to help people with disabilities better access
information. The assistive technology tools utilized are enhanced
listening devices, iPad 3s with real-time-video remote sign language
interpreting apps, and captioned phones to get accessible disaster
recovery information.
“We’ve been engaging the real experts, people who
use these tools on a regular basis, as our planning partners,” Marcie
Roth, Director of FEMA’s Office of Disability Integration and
Coordination. “We are so far ahead of where we were, even a year ago,
but that doesn’t mean that we’re there yet. We’re in a position where
we’re using for the first time some of the most advanced technology in
one of the worst disasters. This is a great teachable moment, but we
have to make sure no one falls through the cracks in this learning
curve.”
For more information, visit:
http://www.fema.gov/news-release/fema-continues-innovations-meet-access-and-functional-needs-integration.
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