Airport Making Good on Its Promise!

Published 02-26-2010

On Wednesday, February 24th before the House’s Committee on Transportation Policy & Oversight, Chaired by Rep. Frank Hornstein, the Metro Airports Commission (MAC) – MSP Airport – provided the legislature with its first progress report since one year ago vowing to become the nation’s most accessible airport for deaf and hard of hearing travelers.

MSP made this commitment shortly after MCDHH and its Airport Access Advisory Group confronted the MAC about being out of compliance with state and federal laws and regulations relating to safety and accessibility for deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing persons within its facility.

Prior to approaching the MAC, MCDHH met several times with Rep. Hornstein and other legislators to get their input on the matter.

MAC leadership responded by accepting MCDHH’s offer to partner – one governor appointed commission working with another – in the spirit of cooperation and collaboration to make things right. This partnership has lead to an exchange of ideas and solutions that are not only effective and cost-saving, but in some cases very innovative.

Every airport is different and each requires its own set of solutions. While testing ideas, piloting new services and problem-solving unexpected challenges takes time; significant progress has been made this past year and will continue.

MSP Airport Director of Operations, Steve Wareham together with Cynthia Weitzel of MCDHH, after touching on the history of events leading up to the interagency partnership, provided the committee with a summary of the following outcomes:

• Airport Advisory Group and community involvement
• extensive audit, issues identified and work plan developed
• cross-departmental approach to addressing and resolving the issues
• partnerships with airport vendors to achieve effective yet cost-saving outcomes
• leveraging existing technology
• high impact results at minimal cost that benefit all travelers

Today’s traveler through MSP Airport will notice the following changes in accessibility:

Visual Paging & Emergency Alerts

• emergency strobe light alerting devices throughout both terminals (a four year process during upgrade of entire fire suppression system 2008-2011)
• visual paging upon request and full screen emergency alerts currently available on all CCN monitors throughout both terminals
• visual paging service and full screen emergency alerts will be expanding to flight information displays and large screen digital advertising monitors throughout both terminals, ticket areas, gate areas, and center mall within a few months

Gate Information Displays (GIDs)

• GIDs are scheduled to be installed within all Delta gate areas (80% of MSP gates) providing de-boarding passengers with up to date information regarding connecting flights
• visual paging will also be made available through the GIDs

Closed-Captioning

• all Television/CNN programming are now captioned at all times

Public Phone Access

• all public, courtesy, and emergency phones are now hearing aid compatible and equipped with volume controls
• outdated public TTY phones in process of being replaced with universal access public phones called PAVs (combination videophone, TTY, voice w/volume control and relay connections)

American Sign Language VRI (Video Remote Interpreting)

• VRI service is now available at the main Traveler’s Aid Office. This service will soon be available at each Information or Help Desk throughout both terminals as well as both terminal Police Stations

Communication of Services to the Public

• working with MCDHH and other organizations in educating the public about the new services as they come on line
• new airport website launched May 2009 ( www.mspairport.org ) better communicates information regarding services and how to access them
• additional website improvements (i.e. maps are not fully accessible) are currently being evaluated
• all directories, digital interactive directories, and printed material being updated or in development include accessibility information and/or features

Facility (internal) Noise Reduction

• facility management team implementing policy aimed at evaluating noise levels or alternative options to reduce noise when purchasing equipment (i.e. purchasing paper towel dispensers instead of hand dryers high in noise)

Training of Personnel

• training of staff and volunteers provided by MCDHH and other advocacy organizations is ongoing, as needed

The above services or changes are the result of MSP Airport’s response to the new regulations issued by the DOT as part of the recent amendment to the Aircraft Carrier Access Act. It is also the result of MSP’s decision to partner with MCDHH and the community throughout the process – a decision supporting their commitment to becoming the world’s most accessible and user-friendly airport for deaf and hard of hearing travelers.

But it isn’t going to stop there. MSP Airport is taking the visual paging service a step further – an innovative new service not yet seen at any other airport. Once launched later this year, it will become a model for other airports to follow. More on this as news develops.

MCDHH often tells people that within an airport, or any facility with heavy traffic, “everyone is hard of hearing.” Steve Wareham, MSP Airport Director of Operations, during the presentation said, “I didn’t realize when we started this process how most of the improvements we were making would benefit ALL travelers. It has been a tremendously successful collaboration.”

The report was well received and continued updates are expected.

MCDHH would like to publicly thank members of the Airport Access Advisory Group who have invested much of their time, energy, and expertise to this project:
Monique Hammond – Hearing Loss Assoc of America-Twin Cities Chapter
Emory Dively – Minnesota Assoc of Deaf Citizens
Jamie Taylor and George Failes – Minnesota DeafBlind Association
Teika Pakalns and Jerry Pouliot – Community Leaders and Advocates
Attorney Rick McPherson – Minnesota Disability Law Center

And also would like to thank the entire MSP Airport Team for their committment and proactive approach to meeting every challenge with best possible outcomes.