Publications / Reports

The Envisioning Inclusive FUTURES Summit Proceedings have been published by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies (Wireless RERC) on our website. The Summit focused on 1) key social, economic, political and technological forces at play in the migration from legacy, analog technologies to mobile, digital technologies, and 2) the consequential futures for people with disabilities.

February 9, 2016 - In 2014, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), Science and Technology (S&T) Directorate funded the Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech), Center for Advanced Communications Policy to examine and report on how to optimize Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA) message receipt by people with disabilities. The research conducted under this contract with DHS S&T builds upon research initiated via the Wireless RERC emergency communications research and development projects.

August 2015 - There are several steps to prepare your mobile device in case of an emergency. One of the most basic is making sure there are a set of emergency contacts easily accessible on your device. This means ensuring that your contacts are saved to the device and to the SIM card.  Various apps are also available for an array of functions such as first aid information, emergency shelter locations, and geographical emergency alerts. It is also always a good idea to have power backup strategies in case a situation where the power goes out.

Dr. DeeDee Bennett’s article, Moving Towards Accessible Wireless Emergency Alerts: Sending and Receiving, was published in October’s issue of the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) Bulletin.  In preparation for IAEM’s annual conference in November, the theme of this issue and the conference is Navigating the New Normal.  As such, Dr. Bennett’s article discusses the findings of a Wireless RERC survey on the accessibility of Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEAs), and survey research funded by FEMA’s Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS).

October 2014 – The National Council on Disability (NCD) issued their 2014 edition of the National Disability Policy: A Progress Report.