Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Weather Spotter Training Held For Deaf, Hearing Impaired - NewsChannel5.com | Nashville News, Weather & Sports
Just a few days ago tornado warnings and severe weather sent many of us running to our safe place. Imagine, for a moment, how scary that experience would be, if you couldn't hear the tornado sirens that signal danger.
It's a scary reality that the deaf and hearing impaired deal with on a regular basis.
"One of the big issues is, if you took away your hearing, would you be able to understand what's going on," said Trevor Boucher with the National Weather Service.
On Thursday night, he taught a Weather Spotter Training Class for about 50 men, women, and children who are all hearing impaired. It was an event organized by the Nashville Area Chapter of the American Red Cross and the National Weather Service, and Bridges, which is an organization that serves the deaf.
"This is the first time a weather spotting class has been conducted specifically for people who are deaf and hard of hearing in the United States," said Donice Kaufman with Bridges. "It's a big deal. It empowers our deaf, and it empowers the hard of hearing."
The spotter training teaches everything from the definitions of warnings and watches to how to identify important cloud features in developing storms such as funnel clouds.
"What we want to do is provide them with some services they might be able to use, like Facebook, where you can access that off your phone, for example," said Boucher.
Those in the audience listened to the presentation with the help of an interpreter.
"Actually, I'm gonna tell you a true story," said Michael Turner, who currently has about 95% hearing loss. "I can be driving down a road and see cars pulling over, and actually they can hear a siren or tornado warning going off, and I'm just driving along."
Kim Jordan, who is completely deaf, said she chose to attend Thursday's class after too many close calls with her family. After the class she said she feels a bit safer.
"Because you never know when something could happen, when something could hit," she said.
The class not only offered tips and education that will help the deaf protect themselves and their families, it also qualifies them to work directly with the National Weather Service, as trained spotters during severe weather.
Boucher says services such as E-spotter, a web based severe weather reporting form, make that process possible.
The National Weather Service said their Facebook page is a great resource during severe weather for the deaf & hearing impaired.
Just a few days ago tornado warnings and severe weather sent many of us running to our safe place. Imagine, for a moment, how scary that experience would be, if you couldn't hear the tornado sirens that signal danger.
It's a scary reality that the deaf and hearing impaired deal with on a regular basis.
"One of the big issues is, if you took away your hearing, would you be able to understand what's going on," said Trevor Boucher with the National Weather Service.
On Thursday night, he taught a Weather Spotter Training Class for about 50 men, women, and children who are all hearing impaired. It was an event organized by the Nashville Area Chapter of the American Red Cross and the National Weather Service, and Bridges, which is an organization that serves the deaf.
"This is the first time a weather spotting class has been conducted specifically for people who are deaf and hard of hearing in the United States," said Donice Kaufman with Bridges. "It's a big deal. It empowers our deaf, and it empowers the hard of hearing."
The spotter training teaches everything from the definitions of warnings and watches to how to identify important cloud features in developing storms such as funnel clouds.
"What we want to do is provide them with some services they might be able to use, like Facebook, where you can access that off your phone, for example," said Boucher.
Those in the audience listened to the presentation with the help of an interpreter.
"Actually, I'm gonna tell you a true story," said Michael Turner, who currently has about 95% hearing loss. "I can be driving down a road and see cars pulling over, and actually they can hear a siren or tornado warning going off, and I'm just driving along."
Kim Jordan, who is completely deaf, said she chose to attend Thursday's class after too many close calls with her family. After the class she said she feels a bit safer.
"Because you never know when something could happen, when something could hit," she said.
The class not only offered tips and education that will help the deaf protect themselves and their families, it also qualifies them to work directly with the National Weather Service, as trained spotters during severe weather.
Boucher says services such as E-spotter, a web based severe weather reporting form, make that process possible.
The National Weather Service said their Facebook page is a great resource during severe weather for the deaf & hearing impaired.