MACON, Ga. — A Bibb County man says he's worried about the county not having a sign language interpreter at emergency announcements after a press conference with mayor Robert Reichert Friday.
Sabrina Burse spoke to the man and county leaders to find out how they plan to resolve the issue.
Disability Connections independent living executive director Michael Leverett says he's grateful to see sign language interpreters during Governor Brian Kemp's emergency announcements concerning COVID-19. It's something he says is missing at Central Georgia local government level.
"In the county area, and I think in some of the other counties as well, we're running into the issue of declarations being made without interpretation for the deaf," said Leverett.
He says he works with people who are hearing impaired and wants them to get important information that could protect them during the coronavirus pandemic.
"It's a whole separate culture. It's a whole separate language system," said Leverett.
The Americans with Disabilities Act requires that state and local governments communicate effectively with people who have communication disabilities. This can include a qualified sign language interpreter, real-time captioning, or a printed script of the speech.
"It needs to happen, and I'm hoping as we move forward, that with all these different announcements that are being made, that everyone is receiving it," said Leverett.
Macon-Bibb County spokesperson Chris Floore says the county started collecting names of local sign language interpreters about a week ago. Floore did not explain why there wasn't a sign interpreter at Friday's press conference, but he says the county will start reaching out to sign language interpreters next week.
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