BackThursday, 7 January 2016
Emergency information must be available to all
The Weekender Herald: herald comment
With the summer, upon us so too is the fire season, especially in the Adelaide Hills. Already we have had a tragic start to the fire season with two fatalities during the Pinery tire in November, in addition to many injuries. It is therefore timely to talk about the accessibility of information in emergency services planning, and in the event of emergencies.
Dignity for Disability (D4D) are pleased with the work we have done with the State Government to improve processes and outcomes in this area, particularly ensuring sign language interpretation will now be an integral part of TV broadcasts related to emergency situations.
An amendment has been made to the State Emergency Management Plan (SEMP) to ensure that there is an obligation to provide AUSLAN (Australian Sign Language) interpretation during official televised announcements.
The change comes after significant lobbying by Dignity for Disability in cooperation with the deaf community. Following the Sampson Flat bushlires advocates told D4D they were worried that interpreters were present at some of the media conferences held by the Government about the fires, but not others.
D4D believe consistency is vital to make sure that everyone gets the information they need to stay informed and sale during emergency situations like bushfire and floods. That’s why we put draft legislation to parliament.
The state government indicated its support for a policy change in the SEMP, rather than legislation and this has had the same outcome as legislative change.
It is estimated that about 7,000 Australians use AUSLAN to communicate every day as a primary language, and that around 82 percent of all deaf Australians regularly use AUSLAN, so it is vital that we ensure equality. There is also a need for increased training of interpreters and media personnel.
AUSLAN interpreters have told D4D that they want more understanding of the wording used by emergency services personnel, so that they can interpret it accurately. We also need to train people such as camera operators so that they know not to cut the interpreter out of the frame, as has happened previously.
We need to increase our use of captions – not only for people who may not hear now but for people who will develop hearing loss with age. We have also heard that there is a need for information in plain language and Easy English for people with different literacy skills. We will keep lobbying on these.
Kelly Vincent MLC, Dignity for Disability
