Without captions, warnings about Hurricane Michael failed to reach disabled
By Gabriella Borter and Barbara Goldberg
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Emergency notifications about troubles ranging from life-threatening tornadoes to New York City subway delays fail to reach Americans with hearing loss because of the failure to integrate closed captioning on public address systems, she noted. "'There's not so many of you, so it's not so important for us.' That's the way we feel," [actress Marlee] Matlin said.
"Everything is migrating to the internet. It's breaking news and you bring up the website video and it's just the clips. There is no captioning."
Even when officials include signers at their news conferences, viewers trying to catch up to the news online later are unable to see them in edited video clips, she said.
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Warning and evacuating people with physical limitations from a fast-moving hurricane requires extraordinary efforts, advocates and state officials said on Friday.
Many disabled people are low income, rely on public transportation and cannot afford private transport or temporary lodging. Those with physical limitations have difficulty with storm preparation like boarding up homes and storing water bottles. The more time they have to prepare for a storm the better, but Hurricane Michael's rapid intensification left thousands with no escape.
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