NSSL employee advocates for better ways to alert Oklahoma deaf and hard-of-hearing people to hazardous weather

Bim Wood and Jim Purpura demonstrate the paging system.

Bim Wood, a research meteorologist, is aware of the challenges deaf and hard-of- hearing people face; he has been deaf since infancy. Following the tornadoes that struck Oklahoma on May 3, 1999, Bim conducted a nine-month survey that revealed 81 percent of deaf and hard-of-hearing people have experienced fear about being unprepared for weather emergencies. He also found they have relatively limited ways of knowing severe weather is imminent. One deaf couple reported they were unaware of the approaching F5 tornado on May 3 until they looked outside and saw neighbors fleeing their houses. Another person interviewed took shelter after lip reading only the word "closet" during a televised weather alert.

Bim has helped initiate a new program to address this issue. The Hazardous Weather Pager Program sends life-saving weather messages via alphanumeric pagers to subscribers with hearing disabilities. The program is a partnership of the NWS Norman Forecast Office, the state Department of Rehabilitation Services, the state Department of Civil Emergency Management, and Weather Affirmation, LLC, and The School for the Deaf in Sulphur, OK who is financing, overseeing, and implementing the pilot project. Bim says, "Alphanumeric pagers are an ideal notification method for those who cannot afford to be tied down to a personal computer or other weather data source, who are concerned.about hazardous weather." Bim hopes the program will serve as a model for other states.

The standard NOAA Weather Radio has been modified to meet the weather alerting needs of deaf and hard-of-hearing users. The special-needs weather radio receiver is available with visual or vibrating alarms and simple text readouts. Bim also partnered with Jim Purpura of the NWS-Norman to take the program a step further by providing weather safety training for program participants. The training was designed to help participants know what to do once they receive hazardous weather alerts.

Bim recently received the "Public Personnel Employee Award" from the Oklahoma City mayor's Committee on Disability Concerns for his work.