SHARE: Ask Howard Anything / February 2016
[Video description can be found below. If you use a screen reader and need to access the caption file transcript, go to “More…” and click on “Transcript”]
Howard A. Rosenblum, NAD CEO, discusses about text-to-911 and what the NAD hopes to achieve. The AHA Series is also available at www.nad.org/AHA.
Video begins with a teal background and a black and white photo of Howard A. Rosenblum slowly increases size as text appears: white text “AHA!”, orange text “Ask Howard Anything”, white text “with”, white text “Howard A. Rosenblum NAD Chief Executive Officer” . The NAD logo appears as a light watermark in the bottom right corner and “#AskHoward” on the bottom left corner. NAD CEO Howard A. Rosenblum sits at his desk.
HOWARD: Hello! For this month’s Ask Howard Anything (AHA) I’m going to discuss text-to-911 and how it can benefit our community. Text-to-911 is a huge technological advancement for both hearing and deaf people, which the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recognizes. All mobile device have a service plan under a specific provider. Previously, those service providers did not have text-to-911 capabilities because they hadn’t figured out a way to connect the sending message by text to the nearest 911 call center. Since then, this technical challenge has been resolved, and all service providers now can handle text-to-911 messaging. Currently, all service providers are required to connect the mobile device to the nearest 911 call center via text. However, now the problem is with many 911 call centers. Not all centers have the appropriate technology to communicate via text during emergencies. Today, only 15% of the 911 call centers in the USA are able to communicate via text messaging. That means 85%, which is a huge percentage, of all 911 call centers do not have the technology to use text messaging. You can go to the FCC website to find out which 911 call centers have text messaging capabilities. At this point, the NAD wants to find a way to make sure more 911 call centers can accept and send text messages. We’ve learned that some states have started planning to improve their 911 call centers, other states have already implemented text messaging in their 911 call centers, while many states have no plans at all. We researched to identify a state in which a lawsuit against a 911 call center would result in a system change for the entire United States. A lawsuit has to happen in one state, but a successful case would likely lead to changes in other states that do not have text messaging in their 911 call centers during emergencies. Suppose you are not at home, not near a videophone, or in an emergency situation — anyone should be able to text the 911 call center for help. This is beneficial for hearing people as well! The NAD, along with other groups, decided to file a lawsuit in the state of Arizona so that they will implement text messaging in their 911 call centers. Again, our goal is to have the result of that lawsuit to affect 100% of 911 call centers in the country, and ensure that they upgrade their system to accept and send text messages. Thank you for your support, we look forward to more system changes to come.
ON-SCREEN TEXT: Send questions: nad.info@nad.org and comment in social media with “#AskHoward”
Video fades to a soft white background with several different font types showing “NAD” very quickly. Copyright video ends with the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) logo centered. Blue text below the logo appears, “A production of the National Association of the Deaf (copyright) 2016 All Rights Reserved”.
source
