Disasters are always inclusive. Response and recovery are not, unless we plan for it!

June Isaacson Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant

In disasters, people with disabilities continue to lose their health, independence and sometimes lives because information transfer and lessons documented over decades, are not yet uniformly learned and applied!

June Isaacson Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant  

Communication Access
Evacuation
Functional Assessment Service Teams (FAST)
Functional Needs (formerly special needs)
Organizing Community Based Organizations
Organizing Neighborhoods
Planning Guides
Promising Practices
Registries
Sample Plans
Sheltering
State and Local Government
Forms, Checklists, Tools, Samples, etc.
Other Resources

Communication Access

Communication Access for People with Limited Speech last accessed 12.26.09

Emergency Preparedness From the National Association of the Deaf, last accessed 12.26.09 

• DHHCAN Emergency Preparedness Report
• Television Broadcasters
• Weather Warning Systems
• Radio Receivers
• Paging Systems
• Civil Defense Strobe Lights
• Education and Communication

Emergency Responder Video (working with Deaf, Hard of Hearing and DeafBlind People) – Video is captioned, but not signed, last accessed 12.26.09

Making Lessons Documented - Real !- Integrating Disability Issues into Instructors' Toolkits, with June Kailes, Hilary Styron and Elizabeth Davis. National Center for Biomedical Research and Training 4th Annual Instructor Professional Development Conference Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge River Center Baton Rouge, LA, 8/17/06.

Orientation Manual for First Responders on the Evacuation of People with Disabilities, FA-235  August 2002, FEMA & US Fire Administration (2002). PDF Format, last accessed 12.26.09

Project Civic Access, U.S. Department of Justice (2004), & Settlement Agreement Between The United States of America and City of Detroit, Michigan, Department of Justice Number 204-37-284. last accessed 01/17/08

Report on Special Needs Assessment for Katrina Evacuees (SNAKE) Project, National Organization on Disability, 2005, PDF Format, last accessed 01/17/08

Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning, National Council on Disability, 2005, last accessed 01/17/08

Evacuation

Department of Transportation (DOT) Disability Resource Center Emergency Evacuation Tips Emergency preparedness guidelines issued to all DOT employees and facilities nationwide.Los Angeles 12.26.09,  Format: Word  posted: 12.26.09

Functional Assessment Service Teams (FAST

“The intent of using Functional Assessment Service Teams (FASTs) in shelters is to recognize that some people need assistance with essential functional needs and some do not.  What is important is that response planning incorporates ways to offer life preservers and safety nets.

Safety nets help people, whose margin of resiliency is smaller and whose vulnerability is greater, get essential functional needs met in unstable and changing environments.

Some people and systems confuse safety nets with fishing nets.  Fishing nets, as they do with fish, scoop people from environments in which they coped or thrived, confine them and threaten their health, safety and independence.”

June Isaacson Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant, 2008

Functional Assessment Service Teams (LAST ACCESSED 04.3.09)This site contains information about disaster sheltering for People with Disabilities and Elderly (PWD/E) and Functional Assessment Service Teams (FAST):

Functional Needs (formerly special needs)

Variation in human ability is ordinary, not special, and, affects most of us for some part of our lives.

June Isaacson Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant

Moving Beyond ìSpecial Needsî: A Function Based Framework for Emergency Management and Planning. Kailes, J., Enders, A., (2007), Journal of Disability Policy Studies.  PRO-ED, TX:Austin. 2007. 17: p. 230-237. Formats: PDF, Microsoft Word. Posted 12.26.09

Paradigm Shift in Planning for Special-Needs Populations. Parsons, B. and Fulmer, D. (2007), Emergency Management in Higher Education: Current Practices and Conversations; Papers from the 2007 FEMA Emergency Management Higher Education Conference. Microsoft Word Posted 12.26.09

Disaster Services and  "Special Needs:" Term of Art or Meaningless Term?  (PDF)  Kailes, J. (2005), last accessed 01/17/08, Also published in International Association of Emergency Managers Bulletin, Special Focus Issue: Emergency Preparedness for Individuals With Disabilities, Part 2.

Functional Needs Planning  Rick Tobin interviews June Kailes, 1.16.09, last accessed 12.26.09

Organizing Community Based Organizations

Los Angeles County Voluntary Organizations Active in Disaster. Emergency Network Los Angeles (last accessed 01/24/08)

Preparing The Vulnerable Population) -- The Triad Alliance , City of San Leandro, (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Guide to Organizing Neighborhoods for Preparedness, Response, and Recovery, Volunteer Center of Marin (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Planning Guides

Accommodating Individuals With Disabilities In The Provision Of Disaster Mass Care, Housing, And Human Services  last accessed 01.29.10, [2007] conetnts include:   

• Use Assumptions
• Planning Assumptions
• FEMA Policy
• Non-discrimination Principles of the Law
• Providers of Emergency Services and Applicable Laws 
• Laws with Summaries
• Glossary

A Guide for Including People with Disabilities in Disaster Preparedness Planning, Connecticut Developmental Disabilities Network, 20006, Format PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

A Framework of Emergency Preparedness Guidelines for Federal Agencies, Preparing the Workplace for Everyone: Accounting for the Needs of People with Disabilities, 7/05, Format PDF, last accessed

Agency Disaster Preparedness Plan, Volunteer Center Serving Howard County, Columbia, Maryland, 7/03, Format PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

Agency Emergency Plan - A Simplified Version for Community-Based Organizations, CARD of Alameda County, 12/01, Format: PDF, last accessed 12.26.09

Disaster Planning Toolkit for the Small to Midsize Business Owner ñ Open for Business 8/06, Format: PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

Disaster Training for Long-Term Care Communities: Will Yours be Prepared? 2006, last accessed 12.26.09

Experiences of Direct Support Professionals During Hurricanes Katrina and Rita 2007, last accessed 02/4/08 

Guidance on Planning and Responding to the Needs of People with Disabilities and Older Adults - for emergency managers and planners, and disability and older adult service systems, for planning and responding, during disasters and recovery, produced by the Californiaís Governorís Office of Emergency Services,  Office of Access and Functional Needs. Last accessed 12.26.09

Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning: How Are We Doing? 2007,Format PDF, last accessed 02/4/08

Attachment A SNF/NF Disaster Preparedness Plan Tool, 11/04

Attachment B  ICF/MR Disaster Preparedness Plan Tool

Occupant Emergency Program Guide, U.S. General Services Administration, Public Buildings Service, Federal Protective Service, 03-02, Format Microsoft Word, last accessed 02/5/08

Pandemic Influenza Workbook for Long Term Care ProvidersCalifornia Association of Health Facilities, August 2007

Self-Assessment Guide, Disaster Preparedness For Community Care Facilities, California Department of Social Service, 11/03, Posted 02/4/08,   Format PDF, last accessed 12.26.09

Serving and Protecting: The Role of Disability and Aging Organizations in Disaster Planning 2006, last accessed 02/4/08

When Disaster Strikes: An Emergency Preparedness Checklist for Service Providers 2006, last accessed 02/4/08

Why and How to Include People with Disabilities in Your Emergency Planning Process?  2008, , Microsoft Word.

Access Board Emergency Evacuation Procedures, (last accessed 01/24/08).

Agency Emergency Plan, Formats: PDF, (last accessed 12.26.09). 

Disaster Preparedness Workbook for Service Providing Agencies, (last accessed 01/24/08). 

People with Disabilities and Elderly Shelter Annex and Functional Assessment Service Teams, 7/22/08 Draft, Document is being used in conjunction with the California Department of Social Services (CDSS) Mass Care and Shelter Plan in large-scale, multi-county, interregional emergencies and disasters.  This plan will provide the structure, policies, procedures, and forms for CDSS Disaster Operation Center activation and operations.

USDA Employee Emergency Response Guide USDA Headquarters, Washington, D.C., March 2006, last accessed 02/4/08

U. S. Department of Transportation Emergency Preparedness Guidelines for People with Disabilities (last accessed 01/24/08)

Volunteer Center Response Plan, The Volunteerism Project (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Volunteer Organized Initiative for Community Emergencies, How to Create an Agency Disaster Plan, VOICE of Contra Costa County (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Workbook for Service Providing Agencies, Monterey County Office of Aging, Community, & Employment Services (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Other Resources

9-11 offers important lessons in disaster preparedness January 2002. (Last accessed 01/24/08).

Citizen Corps (last accessed 01/24/08). 

Lessons Learned Information Sharing ñ a wealth of emergency planning information, which includes disability issues, incident management, training and exercises, public communications, community preparedness, private sector, critical infrastructure. Must first register for a log in name and password, last accessed 02/4/08  

Promising Practices

Community Engagement: Leadership Tool for Catastrophic Health Events, 2006, last accessed 12.26.09, Formats:PDF

This long, but well worth reading, seminal article makes the case for government leaders, public health and safety professionals, and communities at-large having complementary and mutually supportive roles in emergencies.

It details the critical role  that emergency related community structured dialogue, joint problem solving, and collaborative action among government, citizens at-large, and local opinion leaders can play in augmenting governmentís abilities to govern in a crisis, improve application of communally held resources and lessen community losses.

Community partners can collaborate with officials to:

• Create more inclusive planning by engaging in honest, respectful interaction among formal authorities and diverse constituents, necessary to approach policy problems with ethical and cultural complexities.
• Develop robust contingency plans that are more feasible because they reflect community values, economic realities, and collective judgment testing emergency planning assumptions for feasibility and fairness.
• Pool collective wisdom, practical experience, specialized skills, social expectations, and material assets to work on behalf of constituent members,
• Tap community-based organizations that can mobilize their own networks and offer response and recovery capabilities that government does not have or cannot sustain alone. This potentially effective, efficient, and rapid response helps minimize disaster-related losses, human death and injuries.
• Maintain trust during a crisis.

Disaster Alternate Care Facility Selection Tool A public health emergency can strain the capacity of hospitals and other traditional venues for medical services. In such emergencies, it may be necessary to select alternate facilities for providing medical care. Two new interactive computer tools, Disaster Alternate Care Facility Selection Tool and an ancillary tool, Alternate Care Facility Patient Selection Tool, will help institutions and communities select alternate care facilities and determine which patients to send to them. last accessed 12.26.09

Guidance on Planning and Responding to the Needs of People with Disabilities and Older Adults- for emergency managers and planners, and disability and older adult service systems, for planning and responding, during disasters and recovery, produced by the Californiaís Governorís Office of Emergency Services,  Office of Access and Functional Needs. Last accessed 11/22/08

Federal Communications Commission Reminds Video Programming Distributors They Must Make Emergency Information Accessible To Persons with Hearing or Vision Disabilities, 5/05, last accessed 01/17/08  

Moving Beyond ìSpecial Needsî: A Function Based Framework for Emergency Management and Planning. Kailes, J., Enders, A., (2007), Journal of Disability Policy Studies.  PRO-ED, TX:Austin. 2007. 17: p. 230-237. Formats: PDF, Microsoft Word. Posted 12.26.09

Highlights many disaster response and recovery areas of specific and significant concern to the diverse disabilities communities in California. It documents the experiences of people with disabilities and individuals with access and functional needs. The a reas covered include:

• cross cutting issues,
• communication access,
• mass care and shelter,
• evacuation and transportation,
• role nongovernmental provider and advocacy organizations in disaster response,
• long term care facilities,
• training and exercise programs.
Many of the local government After Action Reports are silent on these issues or only vaguely mention them. This report offers 71 specific recommendations for strengthening and improving preparedness, response actions and recovery efforts that are inclusive of people with disabilities and activity limitations. Many of the recommendations reinforce a variety of continuing emergency concerns that existed before the 2007 fires and continues today.

Web Site Accessibility Help, FEMA, last accessed 01/24/08

Why and How to Include People with Disabilities in Your Emergency Planning Process? 2008, Formats: PDF, Microsoft Word.





Forms, Checklists, Tools, Samples, etc. ( Format Microsoft Word), Posted 04/15/08

Emergency Training Activities

Updating Plans, Policies and Procedures - Options for clearly communicating updates in headers and footers, in update notices, and in table of contents. Often organizations spend time updating their emergency preparedness plans, or sections or their plan, but they fail to date their work.

 

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Created 11/8/97 | 01.29.10