Interview with GLAD CEO on Los Angeles wildfires

Here is an interview with Dr. Patricia Hughes, the CEO of Greater Los Agency on Deafness, Inc (GLAD). She said there are between 1-10 Deaf people who lost their homes due to the wildfires.

Patricia said GLAD is accepting donations for a fund that will support them and also support Deaf people who lost their jobs. Link: https://gladinc.org/donations/deaf-wildfires-victims/

Patricia also shares her input on interpreters during emergency briefings and communication in shelters for Deaf clients and how Deaf people receive evacuation alerts.

Alex (Daily Moth): Dr. Patricia Hughes, you’re the CEO of GLAD. My thoughts are with you and all others in Los Angeles County during this difficult time with the wildfires. How are you and other GLAD staff doing?

Dr. Patricia Hughes, CEO of Greater Los Angeles Agency on Deafness, Inc. (GLAD): Thank you. It is a difficult situation. I’ve never experienced several wildfires at the same time. Los Angeles is used to wildfires from time to time but not multiple major wildfires at the same time.

Alex: Do you know how many Deaf people are under evacuation orders?

Patricia: I don’t have the exact number. We’ve called shelters, the Red Cross, CalFire, and others. I know the number of our clients who contacted us that they had to evacuate. We also know of several who have lost their homes.

Alex: Can you give me a number, is it 1-10 or 10-100, on Deaf people who lost their homes from the wildfires?

Patricia: 1-10.

Alex: Were they houses or apartments?

Patricia: I’m not sure, but I know they lost their homes. It could be an apartment or a house. It’s still early.

Alex: So there are less than 10 homes of Deaf people who were impacted.

Patricia: There are many who evacuated, but for the number of those losing their homes, it’s less than 10 as far as I know.

Alex: Were those situations due to the Eaton Fire or the Palisades Fire or others?

Patricia: The Eaton Fire.

Alex: So all of the Deaf people who were impacted were in the Eaton Fire?

Patricia: That’s what we know of. We are accepting financial donations that we will give to those Deaf people who lost their homes or apartments. They may not have renters’ insurance. Many residents of apartment towers are unable to get renters’ insurance due to high fire liability and having too many neighbors. I work with them to refer them to FEMA or insurers. At evacuation centers, they provide interpreters using VRI daily. There are in-person interpreters on certain days to sit down with clients and go over paperwork. Some contact GLAD to facilitate communication. We also help with reading forms and translating them in ASL and explain how to upload them. Some don’t have full insurance and lost things so they have to call insurance and I facilitate that communication.

Alex: You’re supporting them. I wonder how Deaf people under evacuation orders are aware they have to leave? I guess through an app? What if orders are verbally spoken or shouted? How do Deaf people know?

Patricia: Police officers will knock on doors. If it’s an apartment, neighbors will share information or the property manager will send out mass communications to evacuate. That’s pretty much the standard but it doesn’t mean it’ll happen all the time. Sometimes people forget. You know how hearing people typically forget how to reach out to Deaf people or assume that all tenants are hearing. So that’s where neighbors come in. Texts as well. The Watch Duty app. L.A. Alerts app. I encourage people to download the app on their phones and look at our website as there are many resources in English and Spanish. Not in ASL, but we do share several information in ASL vlogs.

Alex: Understood. There are many resources. How can the Deaf community in the U.S. support GLAD and L.A. Deaf people who are impacted from the fires?

Patricia: We are accepting donations to GLAD that are specifically for wildfire survivors. We will share it without taking in any profits. There’s no reason to do that. We’ll give it to them — to those that we know of that have lost their homes or apartments or jobs due to the wildfires. Some people may not be able to apply for unemployment insurance because they may be undocumented residents. A lot of them work. So we will give attention to them and make sure everyone who works in California who has been impacted receives a fair share. You can check our website.

Alex: I appreciate you sharing this information. Now I want to pivot to the topic of interpreting. Are you satisfied or are there issues related with interpreters for government/emergency announcements? I know there was someone criticizing this but let’s put that aside — do you think the services are good?

Patricia: Yes, they are good. There is ASL at almost all the press conferences. Some people don’t realize that there is not just one agency giving press conferences — we have CAL, the city of LA, regional fire departments, and a lot of online announcements as well. I work closely with offices to make sure they provide consistent interpreting. The interpreters are pretty good. I got a notification this morning that all the shelters have VRI. But for volunteer shelters, probably not. For public shelters, there are VRI interpreters. We have not received complaints so far, but some people complained that not all the interpreters are CDIs. Well, there are not enough CDIs first of all. We never have enough CDIs. Secondly, the interpreters are provided by another agency, which is fine. But I’m making sure they consistently provide certified and qualified interpreters. I saw some wrong signs. But it’s not the right time to complain because we need communication to be there. We’re going fast. You can contact us for more information. We’re going really fast.

Alex: Thank you so much, Patty Hughes, and our thoughts are with you during this time.

Patricia: Thank you, we appreciate that. Thank you.

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