http://www.washingtontimes.com/metro/20051005-095340-4787r.htm

Katrina reveals lack of resources to evacuate deaf
By Amy Doolittle
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
Published October 6, 2005

    Christina Pullen's struggle to escape from Hurricane Katrina is helping
area officials learn more about evacuating the deaf and hearing impaired
during an emergency.
    "I only knew to leave because my parents said we need to leave," said
Miss Pullen, who is now a Gallaudet University student living in the D.C.
area, which has the highest concentration of deaf and hearing-impaired
persons in the U.S.
    Miss Pullen, 19, typically relies on text messaging and electronic
communication for her news and emergency alerts. But when Katrina's 160-mph
winds knocked out cell phone reception and other communication systems, she
had to depend on family and friends.
    "If I had been all alone I would've been lost," she said through a
sign-language interpreter.
    Now, as area officials reevaluate their emergency procedures in the
aftermath of Katrina, they are paying special attention to the needs of
persons with hearing problems and other disabilities.
    "There has been a focus on preparedness in the past," said Miguel
Ascarrunz, the emergency services manager for the Montgomery County Homeland
Security Department. "But the disability population is a group with which we
need to interact more."
    For example, the Emergency Preparedness and Public Awareness and
Education campaign that area jurisdictions started after Katrina gives
little attention to the hearing impaired -- telling residents to "tune in to
local TV or radio stations for instructions from your local government as to
how to proceed."
    Lise Hamlin of the Northern Virginia Resource Center for Deaf and Hard
of Hearing Persons, which helped develop the awareness campaign, said
including the needs of the hearing impaired is "going to take some time."
    The resource center has worked with the jurisdictions since September
11, 2001, to make such improvements.
    The District, the city of Fairfax, Falls Church, Manassas and Fairfax,
Loudoun and Montgomery counties now have text-alert systems that notifies
those who have registered for the service.
    "We rely heavily on electronic communications and the text alerting to
let us know what is going on," Mrs. Hamlin said. "Without those, we are back
to communicating and finding out information through other people."
    Other emergency management agencies in the region and Metro acknowledge
the need to improve emergency services for the hearing impaired, but say
they are making plans for more text-based alerts.
    Lisa Fabstein, a spokeswoman for Metro, said the video monitors for
advertisements being considered for trains could be a good way to provide
real-time information during an emergency.
    "But right now if people need to evacuate, realistically, deaf
passengers would just follow others out," she said.
    Officials in the District, Montgomery County and other area
jurisdictions said they are working with the National Association for the
Deaf to develop more effective alert systems to help the hearing impaired.

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