What You Don’t Know Could Kill You

THIS IS EXACTLY WHAT CAN HAPPEN RESULTING IN LIFE-THREATENING SITUATIONS OR DEATHS IF WE DO NOT BECOME THE FIRST RESPONDERS. WE’LL BE THE FIRST ONE TO DIE!

DOES THIS EVER STRIKE YOU AS AN INDIVIDUAL IN DENIAL OR UNINFORMED OF THESE INSTANCES?

From the newsroom of the Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minnesota, Saturday, January 20, 2007 …..

Deaf residents sue over ‘05 emergency

Four deaf Rosemount residents are suing Dakota County alleging authorities did not provide sign language interpreters during a mercury spill and resulting evacuation of their neighborhood.

Kevin Loye, Gina Gist, Vikki Marshall and David Stiles filed suit in U.S. District Court on Friday alleging violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Minnesota Human Rights Act and other laws.

On Sept. 6, 2004, authorities evacuated the Rosemount Woods neighborhood after a mercury contamination. Under orders from Dakota County’s Special Operations Team, the four plaintiffs were quarantined
for hours, subjected to decontamination showers and shuffled to temporary housing, according to the suit. The four allege the county failed to provide American Sign Language interpreters during that process.

After the spill, county employees answered questions and provided information to dislocated residents at a local motel. The suit alleges the county again failed to provide interpreters at that location.

The county hosted follow-up community meetings to discuss health effects as well as services and benefits available. The defendants allege interpreters weren’t at all of those meetings.

That caused “humiliation, embarrassment and anxiety,” the suit alleges.

The suit demands that the county modify its emergency plan to include procedures for identifying deaf residents and providing interpreters. The defendants also are seeking more than $50,000 in damages.

The spill occurred when two teen boys broke into a garage at a former Rosemount glass factory, stole jars of liquid mercury and spread it at a nearby mobile home park, exposing almost 50 people to the toxin and forcing a major cleanup.

— Shannon Prather

Copyright 2007 Pioneer Press
“People who shut their eyes to reality simply invite their own destruction.”
-James Baldwin

“A divisive community in denial also invite their very own ruination if we do
not become the first responders in emergency instances
-Jade

November 20 DTFNYC Meeting with MOPD

Meeting with Matthew Sapolin – Monday, November 20, 2006

This was a meeting that occurred on November 20 with the Commissioner of the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities.

Nothing is as of yet confirmed. The reports are conversational to see what can be done for our community.

Only YOU can make this happen.

Policy
Funding
Technical (better technology means more money, get expensive)
Statistics

(Lacking accurate or near accurate numbers of Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing citizens living in NYC. We need those numbers in order to get the city to do the stuff we want them to follow through with our plan of actions. If our numbers are not recognized, then, we’re in deep trouble.

What does that mean? It means that they will prioritize our list for resolutions over other much deserving than ours. THIS IS VERY, VERY IMPORTANT. Everything reflects the size of our community. We gotta stand out and be counted as deaf/hoh, not in the bucket of disability people. Period)

Discussed concerns for visual accessibility inside the subway system.

There are two very different 911 emergency call boxes: The fire alarm box outside on the streets and the Tap Morse code call box inside the subway stations.

To learn and understand how it works, visit this link: http://www.nyc.gov/html/mopd/pdf/emergency.pdf

There’s a video clip featuring deaf actors, Frank Dattolo, Michelle Banks and Darby Leigh demonstrating how to use the call box. This is the only mean of distribution online and not many deaf/hoh people know about it. Even Frank himself! This video has got to be at least ten years old! Don’t mean to diss my sister but Michelle Banks was wearing weaves. LOL! She has dreads now.

See video clip link. Sorry guys, the video presentation is not that great because it’s so tiny to see or even read the captions.

http://www.nyc.gov/html/mopd/html/fdspot060101.asx

Idea suggestions to replace Call box (Tap Morse code to get police/fire dept attention)

Call box was a policy decision-making based on available technology at that time (1990) provided by the city.

Huberta said, “It was a proposal provided by the fire department for the streets of NYC.”

Can the deaf/hoh do a petition to veto this call box method for improved technology like Sorenson or other means of visual call box two-way?

Mr. Sapolin mentioned a technology called SNAP that none of us heard of. (I will follow up to get that information from him again.)

MOPD website will be updated with resources. We need to help him provide information from our community i.e. DHIS, Metro RID Interpreters, etc.

Mr. Sapolin will try to get in touch with MTA so we can have a meeting with a high-official person to address our many concerns/issues.

Mr. Sapolin was surprised that the DVD Evacuation Instruction (Emergency Preparedness) was not captioned. He wants to find out whether this was a policy-decision making, or were city/federal funding involved. (Jade is following-up with NAD/Department of Homeland Security and Department of Transportation to find out if this is a direct violation of ADA Law Section 504, which enforces the city to captioned. They are also investigating to make sure this DVD is also accessible for the deaf-blind and people with disabilities.)

Tele-communication issues for all cell phones, PDAs, pagers should be able to text 911 to emergency first responders. FCC should be involved.

Huberta placed great emphasis that the city should focus on sensitivity training and sign language courses for all the law enforcement, fire department, EMS/EMT, city emergency response officials on how to better communicate with deaf/hoh people.

Jade proposed that the city deducted $1 from every city public worker included the law enforcement and city official paycheck bi-weekly. Mr. Sapolin likes that idea BUT, he said, “Jade will never get the city commissioner or government to support that idea.” He doesn’t think that is realistic. (Jade advises that we should follow through it and propose that idea to the city – by doing a petition of some sort. We pay taxes!)

Mr. Sapolin wants to know how many hours/days does it require for one to learn basic sign language. He thinks that the emergency responders should learn 7 basic signs. (I disagree) They can learn more than that! We are not asking them to master the language.

Henry mentioned: There are two options to learn sign language (short term – basic sign language) crash course for emergency first responders and (long-term) learning the language itself and cultural and sensitivity training.

We are looking to teach the emergency first responders (from system to system) basic sign language within a reasonable time frame for their job in order to communicate with deaf/hoh. We as Task Force group need to figure out what each emergency first responder needs know or learn.

We also need to ask the policy academy what kind of training do they get and who is teaching or training them. And find out what kind of information resources do they have in their field book. (Every policeman and policewoman has a field book that they carry around with them on duty containing information/guidelines for assisting.) Mr. Sapolin do not know if they have interpreter referral agencies in their field book. We need to find out. We need to know what kind of resources to provide in case of emergency incidents involving deaf/hoh people.

We also need to set up our own guidelines for the police academy and all emergency first responders to NOT go look for someone who knows sign language on the streets. Their first obligation is to call for a professional interpreter. That’s a priority first hand common sense.

Mr. Sapolin also stated that the policy academy has a contract with an interpreter referral agency. We need to find out which interpreter agency. I think he mention Department of City Wide Administrative Service. We need to look into that. He said, “they buys most of the contract for the city and that they have a large requirement contract with MEJ.” Who is Melvin and Elizabeth Johnson Interpreter Referral Agency because they are the lower bid.

Mr. Sapolin will arrange film screening of my film for the law enforcement and city officials followed by a panel discussion and reception with the Task Force Team. (Jade will follow-up again with Mr. Sapolin)

Carmen suggested we produce a how to video blog sensitive training for these city officials on our website for them available for them to log on frequently.

Mr. Sapolin will provide a letter of support for the Task Force group if we need one when we apply for funding for our mission. MOPD do not have fund. They have 9 staff and not equipped to give us money.

What deaf/hoh need to know they pay taxes and our taxes are paying for the law enforcement and city officials. We also pay for FCC on our phone bill.

STAY FOCUS ON WHAT WE NEED TO DO STEP-BY-STEP.

TASK FORCE TEAM PRIORITY FOCUS:
-MTA AND FIRST EMERGENCY RESPONSE EVACUATION (OEM/RED CROSS)
- 911 EMERGENCY TEXT
- NEED A SUBSITUTE CALL BOX IN THE SUBWAY SYSTEM (two-way, not one way!)
- DESIGNED SAFE AREA PLACE OF MEET IN THE EVENT OF A DISASTER
- FOLLOW-UP ON LAW ENFORCEMENT FIELD BOOK. (What’s in the field book. We need to know that. It’s our rights.)
- IMPROVE THE WAIT PERIOD FOR AN INTERPRETER (most wait period for an interpreter is 2 hours or more)
- LAST, NOT LEAST, SURVIVAL SKILLS (ON YOUR OWN. WE MUST.)

SECONDARY FOCUS
- SENSITIVITY TRAINING AND ASL CRASH COURSE
- LAW ENFORCEMENT (NYPD)
- HOSPITALS
- EMT/EMS
- FIRE DEPARTMENT (NYFD)
- CITYWIDE SERVICE PUBLIC SERVICE WORKERS
- SHOW FILM – 9/11 FEAR IN SILENCE: THE FORGOTTEN UNDERDOGS

Beth Israel Medical Center to Replace Interpreters with VRI?

Is this forum to save the interpreters’ jobs or is this about our RIGHTS as deaf/hoh & deaf-blind individuals?

You as community decide which is more critical.

Are you now or have you ever been a patient at Beth Israel Medical Center? Did you know that Beth Israel is planning to fire their sign language interpreters and switch to Video Remote Interpreting (VRI) for all their Deaf patients?

How do you feel about using a VRI service during your medical appointments? Are you comfortable working with a TV screen when your doctor asks you how you’re feeling? Will you trust the VRI interpreter to understand your sign language and your medical history? Do you want to work with a TV screen when you’re getting serious information and instructions about your health?

These are VERY IMPORTANT issues! Come to the first DIRC (Deaf/Interpreter Relations Committee) meeting of 2007 to share your concerns. You can also learn how to contact a Deaf attorney who is willing to help the NYC Deaf community work together and be heard.

The meeting is open to everyone (DIRC meetings are conducted in American Sign Language with no voice interpretation provided). If you are a case manager, social worker, or other professional who wants to learn more about this issue and want to advocate for those consumers who rely on LIVE interpreters for effective communication, please attend.

The DIRC meeting will be held in Friday, January 19th at OMRDD: 75 Morton Street, Manhattan from 5:30 – 7:30 pm. FREE pizza, salad, and soda/water will be served at the meeting until 9 pm.

There will be another meeting next month. Keep checking for announcements.

Deaf Task NYC Meeting Minutes Dec. 1, 06

Meeting Minutes for DTFNYC December 1st, 2006

We had another wonderful, engaging meeting in which many citizens learned information that was both exciting and disturbing about current plans in place for emergency accessibility.

NEW DTFNYC CONTACT INFORMATION
There is now a series of places to get or email information pertaining to emergency accessibility!

A) To receive a list serve of continual announcements/news about emergencies, issues, actions being taken to solve problems and so forth, please send an email to join a yahoogroups account at: DTFNYC@yahoogroups.com

B) If you experienced an issue with fire/police/medical crews that should be addressed, PLEASE email us, and we will try to help you find a way to prevent that from happening. Email us at dtfnyc.publicaccess@gmail.com

UPCOMING MEETINGS:

We are excited to release the upcoming meetings for January, February and March of 2007!

A) January 5th –

a. Go Bags: What is a Go Bag? How to make one? What to pack in one? All these questions will be answered by a powerful presentation by Mr. Henry Sang, a CERT (Community Emergency Response Team) member.

b. ICE: In addition Carmen King will explain through a short ASL instructional video on how to create an ICE (In Case of Emergency) system in your wireless device such as a SideKick/Blackberry.

B) February 2nd –

a. 9-1-1 access and wireless devices: We plan to host a small panel of representatives from different wireless companies to explain the challenges of creating 9-1-1 access via our wireless devices (SideKick/Blackberry) and to work together, brainstorming potential solutions. This meeting is VERY important to bring all your contacts in the wireless and legal industries to help expand our think tank to generate ideas for solutions!

C) March 2nd –

a. First Aid: This will be an introductory training session devoted to:
i. Understanding and mastering the basics of First Aid, and…
ii. How to become more self-independent during times of emergencies to provide First Aid for yourself and the people around you. We need volunteer interpreters and team members to organize this event!

MEETING MOPD DIRECTOR:

Jade (filmmaker) reviewed the DTFNYC’s recent meeting with Matthew Sapolin, director of Mayors Office of Persons with Disabilities (MOPD) on 11/20/06 to ask questions about how to:

A) Generate more readiness with the first response crews (fire/police/medical) in communicating with deaf people and…

B) How to improve communication accessibility in the Metropolitan Transportation Agency’s (MTA) transportation systems (subway/buses/ferries). Pleas see our conversation notes at blog entry under “Meeting Matthew Sapolin.”

Based on our meeting, we were instructed to develop an action plan consisting of:

A) What we need
B) Where we need it
C) Who to contact/generate action

With this action plan in place, it should be submitted to Mr. Sapolin and we have his support to help us carry out the action plan!

CALL BOXES:

After announcing the meetings, there was an in depth conversation about the use of Call Boxes. See blog entry “How to use Call Boxes”

MTA EMERGENCY DVD:

We discussed the issue about the MTA having a DVD that was released very recently about emergency accessibility – IT’S NOT CAPTIONED/SUBTITLED! We are developing a letter to send to MTA to see how this problem can be fixed right away. If anyone has connections to the MTA or how to solve this problem, let us know!

NYPD FIELD BOOK:

All NYPD officers have a large, long wallet that they wear for issuing tickets/violations and documenting important information. It’s called a field book. We learned that all police officers keep a list of phone numbers to contact for any specific emergencies (example: Child Safety, Animal Control, HazMat leaks, etc.) inside their field books. But do they all have phone numbers to an on-call interpreter in case of police activity involving a deaf citizen? We are investigating to see if this is carried out; if not, then we need help developing an appeal to make sure this is done.

CITY CONTRACT WITH MEJ:

It was announced during our meeting with Matt Sapolin (MOPD) that the city has a contract with the interpreting agency, MEJ – which is reputed for not hiring accredited, certified interpreters. During our meeting with Mr. Sapolin, our interpreter couldn’t accurately facilitate two-way communication with the DTFNYC members and Mr. Sapolin with grossly inaccurate signs. We plan to investigate this and confirm if this contract arrangement is true; if so, we want to ask the RID community to join us and help plead for a city contract with an agency that provides ONLY certified interpreters. RID-certified interpreters – this is your jobs being taken away from you!

CENSUS OF DEAF POPULATION:

There has been considerable difficulty in trying to retrieve an accurate count of deaf/HOH populations in the NYC Metropolitan area, due to a wide variety of sources that provide an equally wide variety of unreliable numbers. We really need a strong, accurate number to determine government funding specifically for accessibility issues for the Deaf/HOH populations – not just a vague “Disabled” category. If you know of any reliable sources or specific numbers, please contact us!

PAYING TAXES FOR SERVICES THAT DON’T EXIST!

There were a couple of stunning announcements that shocked the people who attended the meeting with feelings of disgust and anger. We are paying our taxes for services that should benefit us – hearing people have access to the benefits from these tax dollars. We don’t!

A) Westinghouse H.S. (Brooklyn) has a program consisting of a group of deaf students. They DO NOT HAVE STROBE LIGHTS for fire emergencies! Currently they use a system of two teachers as a “back-up” plan to make sure everyone in the deaf program room is aware of any fire emergencies and to follow proper evacuation protocols. It was announced that this system HAS FAILED in the past. Will it fail again? YES.

a. This means the Board of Education has liability for not implementing strobe systems in older schools.

b. This means the FDNY is liable for not issuing violations to ensure that proper fire notification systems are in place.

We need your help to get legal assistance to create action by both the FDNY and the NY Board of Education to ensure that all fire notification systems are implemented in any facilities with deaf citizens!

B) We pay FCC fees and taxes with our phone bills from our wireless devices (Blackberry/Sidekick, etc) for Directory Assistance and 9-1-1 assistance.

a. There is no way to contact 9-1-1 with relay systems in place
b. We can TRY to call 9-1-1 with our cell number, but can we communicate with the 9-1-1 operator? No.
c. Suppose we tried calling Directory Assistance to find out the nearest hospital, police station or fire station? Nope. No access.

This needs to change, and not tomorrow, but NOW. Please share this important information about where your tax dollars are going, coming back in the form of missing services and lack of accessibility. Scour your networks to find legal contacts, political advocates, and telecommunications representatives to try to work together for a solution that benefits us all.

There will be more announcements in future meetings. Please keep checking with us on this blog and see you at our next meeting on January 5th!