Allan Karp, vice president of the Palm Beach County Association for the Deaf, From the South Florida Sun-Sentinel on July 5:
Debbie Meranski, of Boynton Beach, hasn't forgotten her panic on the night Hurricane Jeanne thundered into South Florida nearly four years ago. And unless you are hearing impaired, you can only imagine her fright.
Living alone, new to Florida, and deaf, Meranski was caught off guard. Now she's among those frustrated over a possible move by Palm Beach County officials to eliminate the use of a sign-language interpreter during live local emergency broadcasts. Because of budget cuts this year, the county's interpreter services may be discontinued for good.
During most major storms over the past 15 years, Amy Hair, of Lantana, has stepped in front of television cameras to update residents using sign language.The petite brunette with fast-moving hands is a local television celebrity of sorts. She signs what emergency managers are telling the public of in times of crisis, such as the path and progression of storms, damage predictions and shelter locations.
County emergency managers opted not to use Hair's services during Jeanne's September 2004 strike. Broadcasters used only closed captioning. Meranski, now 71, wishes they hadn't.
"It was pitch black at my house, and no power. I had a small battery-operated television. But I was clueless," Meranski recalls. "The captioning was not clear. I was wondering, 'Had the hurricane arrived, or not?' I had no way of knowing. So, I opened up the door just a little bit. And, oh my, God. Things blew in at me … My heart was racing. I was feeling all alone with no communication."
Captioning often scrolls across television screens too quickly or with misspellings and gibberish. Parts of a message are lost or not understood. Advocates for the hearing impaired also say much of what a deaf person comprehends, such as the magnitude of a situation, comes through facial expressions of someone using sign language.
Assistant County Administrator Vince Bonvento says a final decision hasn't been made. But given the political pressure to trim spending in the county's Public Safety department about $2 million, he said there may be need to cut several thousand dollars by foregoing interpreter services. He said he will ask deaf community advocates for their input. Whatever is decided, he said, the county won't forget the hearing impaired this hurricane season.
"It's always tough when you are providing a service to go back and eliminate it," Bonvento said. "But we're not going to do anything to diminish our responsibility to communicate with that special community."
Allan Karp, vice president of the Palm Beach County Association for the Deaf, and a member of a statewide advocacy, is among those who have complained about the possible loss of interpreter services. He said there are about 150,000 hearing-impaired people in Palm Beach County, with about 10 percent of them, like himself, who are deaf.
