American Sign Language and Emergency Alerts: The Relationship between Language, Disability and Accessible Emergency Messaging
| Title: | American Sign Language and Emergency Alerts: The Relationship between Language, Disability and Accessible Emergency Messaging |
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| Format: | Journal Article |
| Publication Date: | March 2018 |
| Published In: | International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters |
| Description: | Emergency alert messages are not always completely accessible for people who are Deaf that rely on American Sign Language (ASL), due to the language diversity within this community. Those who have become Deaf or hard-of-hearing late in life can use closed captioning as an accommodation. Closed captioning is not always a useful means of communication for those who rely on ASL because it is presented in a language many ASL users do not fully comprehend. Similarly, emergency alert messages delivered via SMS text or email can also present confusion to ASL users who may struggle to understand the written English messages. One size does not fit all; and in this case, English text as a sole means of communication is not entirely accessible. This paper outlines the relationship between language, disability and emergency messaging as learned from several research studies examining the accessibility of public alerts and warnings. |
| Ivan Allen College Contributors: | |
| External Contributors: | Bennett, D., LaForce, S., Touzet, C., Chiodo, K. |
| Citation: | Bennett, D., LaForce, S., Touzet, C., Chiodo, K., American Sign Language and Emergency Alerts: The relationship between language, disability, and accesible emergency messaging. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, V 36, no.1, pp. 71-87, March 2018. |
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