9-1-1, Tech Industry, and Accessibility Advocates Collaborate to Enable Better Access to 9-1-1

People with speech and hearing disabilities will gain better access to emergency services as the result of an Industry Collaboration Event hosted by NENA: The 9-1-1 Association. The event brought together twenty-two leading public safety and technology companies with deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech disability advocates to test products designed to improve access to 9-1-1 for those communities, as well as enhance the ability of 9-1-1 centers to receive and share data-rich communications with the public and emergency responders.

This 5th Industry Collaboration Event, or "ICE 5," resulted in heightened awareness of the requirements necessary for access to 9-1-1 by all persons in the Next Generation 9-1-1 (NG9-1-1) environment. NG9-1-1, which will soon replace today’s voice-centric 9-1-1 system, is designed to support text messaging and multimedia communications; these widely-used communications methods are especially critical for improving interactions between those with hearing- and speech-related disabilities and 9-1-1 call takers.

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