TORONTO – Members of the deaf, hard of hearing or speech impaired (DHHSI) community now have the ability to reach 9-1-1 services in the city of Toronto through the Text with 9-1-1 service (T9-1-1), Toronto Police Services said Monday.
T9-1-1 is a service that allows members of the DHHSI community to call 9-1-1 during an emergency, and converse with a 9-1-1 call-taker by text message. A special application allows the 9-1-1 call-taker to recognize the call as coming from a registered cell phone associated with a DHHSI member, and enables the call-taker to text with the caller to deal with the emergency.
To be eligible to use this service, members of the DHHSI community must have a compatible cell phone and register with their wireless service provider. For a T9-1-1 call to be identified, DHHSI persons may only access 9-1-1 services from their registered cell phone and only in parts of Canada where the service has been deployed.
