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MSP Airport Practices Crash Simulation with Deaf Passenger

Emergency Responders Train on Surprise Communication Barrier

St. Paul, Minnesota (May 10, 2018) – The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing Minnesotans is participating in an emergency response exercise at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport (MSP) on Thursday evening, May 10, 2018.

Every three years, the Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) conducts a large scale emergency response exercise involving a plane crash simulation.  One of the participants playing the part of a victim in the crash is Anne Sittner Anderson, who is deaf. Emergency responders aren’t told in advance that there is a deaf passenger and will have to work out quickly how to communicate with her during the exercise.

There are three parts of the simulation. The first part covers an aircraft evacuation. Passengers will be evaluated and sorted by the first responders on the airfield. The second part will take place in the “survivors’ center,” where “victims” are further evaluated by medical staff. The third part will be done from the perspective of family members asking for information about their loved one. 

Sign language interpreters will be on hand to interpret the exercise instruction but they will not have a role in the actual exercises. 

Sittner Anderson, who is the Communications Coordinator at the Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing Minnesotans (MNCDHH), a governor-appointed commission that advocates for communication access and equal opportunity with the 20% of Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind and hard of hearing, feels that this is an important experience for emergency responders.

“Twenty percent of the population has some degree of hearing loss. At any time, any of us can be caught in a life-threatening situation. We need to be prepared if that happens and emergency responders, medical staff, and airport personnel must to be able to react swiftly to communication barriers,” said Sittner Anderson. 

In addition, one of this year’s crash simulation evaluators, Andrew Palmberg, is also deaf. Palmberg has served on the airport’s permanent Travelers with Disabilities Advisory Committee (TDAC) since 2014 and is currently the Chair. Palmberg previously served in the role of a deaf passenger in a crash simulation, creating a surprise communication barrier for emergency responders to train on back in 2015.

“Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport has made great strides with accessibility since they have implemented the Travelers with Disabilities Advisory Committee in 2014. Involving people with disabilities in their CrashEx training exercise is just another example of how inclusive MSP is with considering people with disabilities in their everyday operation of the airport. Few airports in North America actively involve people with disabilities in their emergency preparedness response training to educate first responders on how to interact with and assist people with disabilities,” explains Palmberg.

Crash simulations are FAA-mandated events to help airports prepare for real-life emergencies. The MAC strives to make Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport (MSP) the most accessible airport in the world. This is why they made sure that people with disabilities participated in this important training.

“We appreciate our relationship with the Commission of Deaf, Deafblind & Hard of Hearing Minnesotans and their involvement in our crash simulation once again this year,” said Phil Burke, Director of MSP Operations at the Metropolitan Airports Commission. “We have an aspirational goal to be the most accessible airport system in the world and our partnership with MNCDHH is vital to achieving it.”

About the Commission 

The Commission of Deaf, DeafBlind & Hard of Hearing Minnesotans is a governor-appointed Commission that advocates for communication access and equal opportunity with the 20 percent of Minnesotans who are deaf, deafblind or hard of hearing. For more information about the Commission, visit www.mncdhh.org or join us on Facebook and Twitter.