Helping Hands
By Julia Regeski
W
hen an emergency
hits, many are
glued to their TV
screens and radios,
eagerly awaiting instructions on
how to proceed, but what if you
couldn’t hear those instructions?
For about two percent of Georgia’s
population, that scenario is a
potentially life-threatening reality.
During Hurricane Matthew, a
lack of emergency notifications in
American Sign Language (ASL) led
to Debbie Barefield’s family staying
in place instead of evacuating.
While her family survived, her
home was damaged, along with
her sense of security. Had Debbie
been able to fully understand the
emergency messaging, she and her
family could have lessened their
risk of harm. That’s where All Hands
On comes in.
All Hands On is a nonprofit that
fosters relationships between the
deaf community and
Emergency preparedness extends
emergency managers in preparing
for disasters, and as Aaron
Shoemaker, co-founder and deaf
interpreter explained, uses a unique
partnership with state agencies to
further their mission. Shoemaker’s
partnership with GEMA/HS first
began at a Region II Healthcare
Coalition meeting, where he was
presenting. From there, he was
introduced to the concept of the
Community Emergency Response
Team (CERT) and the Emergency
Managers Association of Georgia
(EMAG) summit, where he has
been presenting for the past five
years. Shoemaker stressed that
communicating with the deaf
community is not as scary as one
might think, and encouraged all
emergency managers to consider
learning some sign language,
even if it’s as simple as spelling
out their name.
“That one very small
gesture of expressing
your name in sign
language, just fingers
spelling out your
name… can help to
alleviate the pressure
of communication,
can help to calm
someone down,
and help them
to feel more
welcome,” said
Shoemaker.
Shoemaker and
the co-founder of All
Hands On, his wife,
Keisha, were certified
to teach CERT through
the Emergency Management
Institute. From there, they spread
their knowledge to five deaf
individuals using ASL, and four
deaf individuals using interpreters,
who are all now also properly
licensed to teach CERT.
The pair stresses that the classes
their deaf students undergo are
almost identical to those that
hearing students attend, right down
to the FEMA-approved slideshows
and manuals. The only difference
between the classes All Hands On
leads and traditional CERT classes
is that those for deaf students are
taught in ASL.
“When we tell (our students) that
(they) are being trained just like
hearing people, their eyes
just absolutely light up,”
said Shoemaker.
“They are thrilled
that they are
receiving
something that
is equivalent.
We talk a
lot about
accessibility
when we’re
dealing with
the disability
community,
but when
accessibility
becomes
equivalency,
that’s when
everybody wins.”
All Hands
On also works
to ensure that