This week, Text to 9-1-1 became a reality in Maricopa County. Text to 9-1-1 provides meaningful access to individuals who are deaf, hard of hearing or have speech disabilities to First Responders through the use of any phone with texting capabilities. It is also a great addition in improving public safety in the region.

Those who are deaf, hard of hearing, and speech-challenged use texting, videophones, social media, smartphone apps, and other technologies for their telecommunications needs. Text messaging allows them access to what them that was previously unimaginable, drastically increasing the quality and speed of telecommunication and allowing a commensurate increase in the interactivity of their communications.

Text to 9-1-1 comes after months of collaboration between Maricopa public agencies and advocates for the disability community. Other AZ counties have yet to get on board. ACDL, National Association of the Deaf and Stein & Vargas have asked the other 14 counties to meet with us in the next 30 days to implement Text-to-9-1-1 in their region.

Read the text to 9-1-1 news article on azfamily.com.