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Q&A

Staffing for accessibility expertise at OTI

0:25:47

·

62 sec

Council Member Jennifer Gutiérrez inquires about OTI's staffing for accessibility expertise, particularly for the deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind community. Robert Barbera explains the current situation and past practices regarding accessibility experts at OTI.

  • No experts on accessibility for deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf-blind community on 911 staff
  • OTI engages with the Mayor's Office for People with Disabilities (MOPD) for accessibility concerns
  • A community advocate consultant was on staff during interim text-to-911 implementation but is no longer employed after the feature was implemented
Jennifer Gutiérrez
0:25:47
And, so, for phase 2, those are the administration's intentions to meet with advocates?
0:25:52
Yes.
0:25:53
Pre pre planning.
0:25:54
Okay.
0:25:56
Do you have any experts on accessibility for the deaf, hard of hearing, or deaf blind community on staff to assist with 911 or 311 accessibility?
Robert Barbera
0:26:08
Not part of the, 9 one one staff.
0:26:11
No.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
0:26:13
Okay.
0:26:13
But do and do do you have, these members from the community on just the OTI staff?
0:26:18
You're saying just not assigned to NextGen?
Robert Barbera
0:26:21
Many of our engagements are through MOPD.
0:26:24
For interim text to 911, we did have a advocate as a consultant on staff.
Jennifer Gutiérrez
0:26:35
And, they're no longer are these still on staff?
Robert Barbera
0:26:38
No.
0:26:38
Once interim text to 911 was implemented, there were no further enhancements being made at that time.
0:26:44
So there was the the advocate was no longer on staff.
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