911 Access

Hello my name is Behishta.

Many Deaf and Hard of Hearing people have issues with calling 911 in case of an emergency. Many Deaf people do not have a TTY anymore. Many of us want to be able to call 911 using our Blackberry or iPhone like many other hearing people.

We can call 911 through TTY or a phone but not through texting with our Blackberry or iPhone yet. We can call through 911 and not answer but sometimes 911 will have a hard time to find you. For example they will find you easily in an apartment building.

We can call through our Blackberry and iPhone without giving any voice communication. Luckily, Durham Region emergency services gives this kind of call high priority. (Not all regions do this.) They will send police, fire and ambulance even if there is no communication if they can.

There are people and agencies working on developing text messaging for 911 and it will be ready sometimes soon. When it is first set up, it will only be available to people with hearing loss. Hearing people will not have access to this service yet. When they are ready for us to use, CHS will inform us.

CHS has hired a woman named Mandy Conlon to work on this project. Mandy gave a presentation to our committee last year about this. CHS will continue to keep us posted about this. When we know more about new technology available to use, we will let you know.