Serving the Whole Community through IPAWS

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) released Alerting the Whole Community: Removing Barriers to Alerting Accessibility, a report outlining the current efforts made to ensure accessibility for people with access and functional needs within the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS). According to the report, approximately 25% of Americans may need “assistance or accommodation to receive emergency alerts,” including people with disabilities and limited English proficiency. The report highlights that IPAWS works to increase accessibility of alerts for all individuals through multi-modal and geo-targeted dissemination while implementing standards that “developers of accessibility products and services can modify their products and services so end-users will receive alerts issued through the IPAWS system.”  Noted challenges to ensuring accessible alerts and warnings, as noted by the report, include educating the public as to the importance and capabilities of IPAWS, and adoption of IPAWS within all communities.  Galain Solutions notes that despite the challenges, “FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS) is moving quickly toward their goal of making sure alerts and warnings are fully accessible by the whole community.”