Expanding the Weather-Ready Nation Initiative through Diverse Partnerships in the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Communities across Alabama

Initiatives to help the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (D/HH) community became a part of a Weather-Ready Nation began in 2012. Through a Deaf and Hard of Hearing Outreach Team, several National Weather Service (NWS) offices across the country are now spreading weather and safety information effectively throughout their D/HH communities. This includes the creation of updated lightning materials and various public service announcements, featuring American Sign Language, that were released nationwide in 2016.

The success of the NWS’s outreach has inspired others to do more of the same. A diverse group of partners across Alabama came together in 2017 to consider the challenges that the large D/HH population faces in obtaining weather information, alerts, and disaster assistance. The Jefferson County Deaf and Hard of Hearing Committee was formed with the goal of combining resources and efforts across these groups to improve weather education and safety of the D/HH community across the entire state. More than a dozen partners are involved, covering a broad range of groups from federal, state, and local government, public safety, health, and academia.

This team’s most recent project begins with working together to improve already-existing D/HH Skywarn classes given by NWS Huntsville and Birmingham. Additionally, through an award from the University of Alabama, funds were provided to supplement the purchase of weather radios with accessible strobe lights. These weather radios and attachments will be distributed to attendees at D/HH Skywarn classes in 2019. This presentation will explore the challenges and successes of this joint project so far, as well as the research being conducted within it.