The lack of emergency information

People complain of information overload these days, but knowledge empowers in many situations:  traffic accidents, flight and other travel emergencies, extreme weather, war and terrorist attacks, epidemics, fires, and earthquakes and other natural disasters.

The government officially recognised New Zealand Sign Language seven years ago, but change has come slowly if at all. The Act recognises that NZSL is a first language for Deaf people and that d/Deaf people need information visually. But the government has done little to address this need. The MCDEM's response so far to the review of disaster management after the 2011 earthquakes leaves d/Deaf access to information poor. Written information simply does not equal information broadcast on TV and radio for availability and relative ease of access.

TVNZ recently dropped Teletext, a source of news for d/Deaf and other people, because the internet provided the same information and more and it was uneconomical to maintain for such a small minority. TVNZ and Sky provide captioning for a limited number of programmes – including some news programmes -- and channels. But they do not have to put live captioning on emergency broadcasts. Commercial viability usually determines their provision -- they are commercial ventures, after all -- unless otherwise required by law. They are not strictly responsible for supporting d/Deaf residents in emergencies. The minority who will miss Teletext, however, is likely to be vulnerable -- consisting of the elderly and the poor -- and probably lacks access to the internet.  Subsidies for smart and other special phones could bridge the gaps where d/Deaf people have low incomes or live in areas without broadband, putting a lot of apps and services -- the Herald and TVNZ are on mobile, email, Twitter, and RSS -- out of their reach. The same NAD report discusses legal requirements in the US for broadcasters which could mean broadcasters providing live captioning -- not just a crawl feed at the bottom of the screen – and interpreters during emergencies to give essential information.