Tornadoes and floodwaters can rattle anyone, but Middle Tennessee advocates for the deaf or hard of hearing hope an upcoming event will help these people shake the added layers of anxiety they can face.
Advocates and government agencies are joining forces to present a workshop this month that aims to arm the deaf or hard of hearing with tools to avert danger when severe weather approaches.
Presenters from the mayor’s Office of Emergency Management, the American Red Cross and the National Weather Service will be on hand, and every family will walk away with free weather radios fitted with a “pillow shaker” and a strobe light that will make alerts more accessible.
“It’s kind of like the Cadillac package,” said Mike Helms with Bridges, one of the advocacy organizations involved with the workshop. “That’s what we’re going to be distributing.”
Helms and many members of his family are deaf. He said the specially equipped radios could become invaluable lifelines.
“These radio devices will be able to signal warnings to those in our area and protect them, keep them safe and perhaps save someone’s life,” Helms said through an interpreter. “If something happens, we want to be prepared.”
Organizers hope the radios, along with the presentations, will help to empower a community that faces added challenges.
Warnings from sirens or traditional weather radios are understandably problematic.
Complex differences between American Sign Language and English can make speedy or unclear captions on TV weather reports more difficult for some to understand. Sometimes, Helms said, captions run over important forecasts.
But teaching the deaf or hard of hearing to spot storms forming in the sky and helping them build their own emergency kits can dull the challenges’ impact, advocates say.
“We’re trying to really show that people with hearing loss can function just like people who can hear, as long as they have access,” said Donicé Kaufman, a case manager at Bridges. “Nobody needs to take care of you. You can do this — you can take care of yourself.”
