Emergency Preparedness - INDEX

Q: What is your role at the Shriver Center?

A: I serve as a consulting emergency management specialist to the Shriver Center. While working on my Master’s Degree, I was immediately impressed with the Shriver Center’s efforts to help people with disabilities prepare for and respond to emergencies and disasters. Bringing awareness of the unique challenges faced by people with disabilities is important, especially to emergency responders and government officials. I knew immediately that I wanted to be part of this amazing program.

Q: How can individuals with disabilities assist responders in creating a positive and safe outcome during emergencies?

A: I believe it works best if people with disabilities and responders have met before. That way, their first meeting is calm and relaxed, not in all the noise and confusion an emergency can cause.
These meetings can take place in a variety of ways. For example, fire departments may have events open to the community at their station. Also, some towns hold community-wide readiness events (“How to Prepare for Hurricanes” for example) that fire, police, and emergency medical officers must attend. Some towns offer registries that allow disability-related information to be shared with 911 (but kept private) ahead of a disaster to make response easier.
These are all possibilities.

Also, be as specific as you can with responders about your disability. What is it called? What do you need help with? What can you do by yourself? Do you need to bring equipment with you? Even people with the same disability have different needs, so this information is very important.

Q: How has working with the Shriver Center affected your approach to thinking about emergency preparedness and response for individuals with disabilities?

A: My previous job offered no real training on interacting with individuals with disabilities; we basically learned on our own. Working with the Shriver Center has broadened my perspective and understanding of why inclusive emergency planning, preparedness and response are so important. They make individual communities more resilient when emergencies occur, and highlight the individual strengths of someone with a disability, rather than focusing solely on limitations.

Whether it’s directing people how to escape from a building, organizing support for an emergency planning meeting, or volunteering in a mock emergency drill, everyone can help their town prepare for and respond to emergencies.

This month I am pleased to introduce Patrick Gleason, Shriver Center Staff Writer, as our guest blogger. Patrick will be introducing us to the topic of Emergency Preparedness for people with disabilities.

Nobody’s ever asked me to be a victim before.

That sentence resonates in my head as I pull my wheelchair up next to a backboard. I am participating in a mock decontamination drill at a local hospital. These drills are yearly requirements, but I will be the first individual with an actual disability to participate for this hospital (instead of someone pretending to have a disability.)

As I am gently transferred from the chair to the backboard and sent down something like a conveyer belt with two individuals dressed like Star Wars storm troopers on either side, I can’t help but think, What have I gotten myself into?

Understanding the need for being prepared

That experience marked my first true understanding of emergency preparedness and response (EP/R) for individuals with disabilities. Prior to that, my only real exposure to emergencies involved downed trees or the occasional power outage.

Since then however, over the past few years I have been forced to come up with my own solutions during several emergencies.
• Using the light from a cell phone keypad to shut off my house alarm during a storm; the power was out, my parents were gone , and I couldn’t find a flashlight.
• Borrowing a security guard’s cellphone to locate my mother; we were separated at the mall during an unexpected fire drill.

Many challenges faced

My examples are obviously small-scale. However, people with disabilities often experience devastating impacts during emergencies and disasters, including separation from critical adaptive equipment and assistive technology, service animals, support from family, friends and caregivers, and critical services. The American emergency response system traditionally has not taken into account the needs of people with disabilities, as they are not often part of the emergency planning process.

We at the Shriver Center are working to change that.

Self Advocates take role in training

Nate Trull, a longtime self-advocate who also serves as a consultant to the Shriver Center, is also well-versed and committed to educating individuals with disabilities on EP/R. Beginning with his experiences at the rank of Life Scout, his interest blossomed to include serving as chairman of his own advocacy group Powerhouse, and offering free, ongoing, EP/R training and tips to advocacy and provider agencies throughout Massachusetts. He was also invited to attend a 2011 EP/R conference sponsored by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

“I love focusing on EP/R work for people with disabilities because I help them take charge of their own lives and help themselves,” Trull says with a trademark smile. “There is nothing I would rather do.”

September is Emergency Preparedness month; we hope these blogs will help you think about your personal emergency preparedness from a variety of perspectives!

Category: Emergency Preparedness

Shriver Center Supports Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities