Washington, DC � COMCARE joined national leaders of the deaf and hard of hearing communities in calling on the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to encourage 9-1-1 systems to upgrade technology to serve the needs of disabled persons.
由30个组织的代表认可的FCC信，要求9-1-1服务允许聋人，听力和言语残疾人通过使用现代数字技术（包括文本和视频）来访问紧急服务。
Norcal耳聋中心的首席执行官，E9-1-1国家利益相关者理事会主席Sheri Farinha-Mutti表示：
“数百万依靠PDA，即时消息，视频和电子邮件进行固定和移动通信的人无法使用这些设备寻求帮助，报告紧急事件或接收紧急警报。这是聋人，听力和言语残疾人的一个特殊问题。他们在日常生活中依靠这项技术，但不能使用它来访问9-1-1。”
The letter noted that traditional teletypewriter (TTY)-based services, which most 9-1-1 centers can receive, are becoming increasingly obsolete.
国家领导人敦促FCC不要将聋人视为孤立的案件。他们说：“升级9-1-1和紧急通信系统将允许从任何来源收到数据/文本和视频（以及语音），从VoIP电话用户到聋哑人到聋哑人，听取消费者的声音，再到远程信息处理公司例如Onstar。升级9-1-1系统并不是聋人和听力消费者对9-1-1强加的独特和特殊要求。”
“目前，目睹紧急事件的个人可以在他们的手机上拍摄事件并将其发送给世界上的任何人 - 但他们无法将该图像发送给9-1-1或其他紧急机构，因为这些机构Comcare主任David Aylward说：“没有能力接受和处理任何形式的外部数据。”“解决聋人和听力障碍人士面临的问题的解决方案也将解决其他广泛的公共紧急需求。每个人都将从现代化的紧急通信中受益。”
Last month, COMCARE joined with over sixty organizations to urge Congress and federal agency leaders to take a more comprehensive and inclusive approach to the modernization of emergency communications, emphasizing the importance of data communications in emergency response.
这些组织指出，紧急通信以及“互操作性”的定义不仅包括语音，还包括数据，不仅包括移动通信，而且还包括组织间通信，以向所有机构和个人提供最有效的响应紧急情况。
这封信是由FCC E9-1-1Stakeholder Council Committee, comprised of experts from the deaf, hard-of-hearing, and speech-to-speech consumer communities as well as emergency response organizations such as COMCARE.
COMCARE is a national non-profit alliance dedicated to advancing emergency response. It promotes the adoption of modern, interoperable emergency systems and the development of new procedures, training, and tools to maximize their value for emergency responders. It encourages cooperation across professional, jurisdictional and geographic lines, seeking to improve effectiveness through solutions that integrate emergency response professions, government, and the public and private industry.
