988 Crisis Hotline gets ASL support

BOWLING GREEN, Ky. – The national crisis hotline 988 is now offering support for deaf and hearing impaired people in crisis. The service uses Zoom to connect callers in need of American Sign Language translation through an interpreter so that they can also be looked after during a mental health crisis.

Nicole Epsey, the director of Crisis Services at LifeSkills, says the service is expected to grow to encompass the needs of more and more people who require alternative services as the 988 hotline grows in popularity.

“We do not want any disability to be a barrier to reaching services, mental health or physical health. Otherwise, but especially with nine, eight, eight. That’s why we’re working on these specialized lines to reach all these different populations that maybe in the past didn’t have easy access,” Epsey said.

988 already offers a variety of ways to communicate with a professional when someone is in crisis, they include text, traditional phone call and even an option for webchat.