Most
Requested
Content
05.02.25
Disability
Competencies
Emergencies / Disasters
Health
Disability
Competencies
Accessible Meetings, Events, and Conferences
July
2015, Digital updated version of June Isaacson Kailes and Darrel Jones'
1993
work, A Guide to Planning Accessible Meetings. The Mid-Atlantic ADA
Center and
TransCen Inc.
Brief
Summary of the Medical, Social, and Independent Living
Models of Disability (2024)
Effectively Including People with Disabilities in
Policy and
Advisory Groups (Edition 2, 2012)
Language Is More than a Trivial Concern!
(2010)
Time to Get Rid
of "Special"? (1991)
Tips for Interacting with People with Disabilities
(2011)
Physical
Access Videos (2018)
- Parking and Passenger Loading Zones
- Maneuvering at
- Accessible Toilet Rooms
- Wheelchair Maneuvering
- Protruding Objects
- Signs
- Accessible Bathing Facilities
More Content …
Emergencies / Disasters
NEW
TRUST
Moving
Beyond Etiquette to Actionable Practice Competencies (blog post
7/31/23)
NEW
Focusing
on etiquette,
awareness, and sensitivity represents soft superficial niceties and
politeness.
It is nibbling around the edges when addressing disability implicit
biases,
discrimination, and lack of access and accommodations commonly
experienced by
people with disabilities. This focus falls short when translating the
complexities of preferred practices and the fundamental requirements of
compliance
with civil rights laws into actionable tasks and competencies. We must
move beyond
etiquette to achieve meaningful and lasting civil rights compliance.
Getting
It Wrong: An Indictment with a Blueprint for Getting It Right, Disability
Rights, Obligations and Responsibilities Before, During and After
Disasters Edition
1
(May 2018)
Southern
California Wildfires After Action Report (2008) Text
Commnity
Engagement
Planning Checklist
for Rapid
Emergency Response for Organizations Serving People with Disabilities
Edition 1.4
(2018) Rapid
emergency response is in direct alignment with the core services and
values of
disability focused organizations that engage in systems advocacy that
protects
peoples’ civil rights and right to self-determination. This guidance and checklist is for organizations
that support the health, safety, and
independence of
people with disabilities and others with access and functional needs.
Use it to
evaluate critical
elements of emergency
response and recovery, identify
areas needing attention, set
priorities and continue to assess
progress. Four
elements include:
- Continuity
of Operations / Ensuring Service Continuation - Can your
organization continue to provide services? Are
staff familiar with (drilled and practiced) emergency procedures with
different
scenarios? Can communication among staff and clients be maintained
during and
after the emergency? Are plans in place
for emergency staffing and supplies, coordination and decision-making,
access
to data, mutual aid, communication
of emergency messages, and updating
emergency plans?
- Client
Focused Emergency Actions - What
steps is your organization
taking to assist the people you serve in preparing and sustaining their
emergency plans? Are plans in place to provide life-safety
checks to a pre-identified segment of the people you serve?
- Community Partnerships,
Connecting and
Networking - Does your
organization
participate in meetings, workshops, and community gatherings that focus
on emergency
planning?
- Outside
Service Contracts, Agreements and Memorandums of
Understandings –
Have you
determined
what services your
organization will offer for a fee or free to local and state government and establish agreements for fee-based services?
Emergency
Services
Checklist
for
Integrating People with Disabilities and Others with Access and
Functional
Needs into Emergency Planning, Response & Recovery (2020
- updated, 2014)
Defining
Functional Needs - Updating CMIST (2017) -
resulting from the evolving of terms as well as the clarity, precision,
and
specificity of our thinking and practice. CMIST is a memory tool to
help people
remember and plan for the five functional needs individuals may
have in
an
emergency or disaster: communication; maintaining health; independence;
support, safety and self-determination; and transportation.
Emergency
plans based on optimizing function
rather than “specialness” increases the chance of successful
accommodation of
predictable needs. For example, the fact people have survived a
stroke,
tells us nothing about their functional needs for maintaining their
health,
safety and independence, which can range from no needs to many needs.
Emergency Registries are
pointed to as an easy and logical
answer for addressing what are perceived as “special needs” for a small
segment
of the population. In reality, registry issues are complex, and
the needs
of people when functionally defined, are not special, and are not
limited
to just a small group of people.
These
registry
resource pages provide a deeper exploration of registries and include:
Functional Needs Focused Care and Shelter
Checklist
(2009)
Guidance
for
Integrating People with Disabilities in Emergency Drills and Exercises,
Edition
2, 2020 NEW easier to use format with updated
content [see Edition 2015
below] including:
- Identifying and Recruiting Qualified Disability Subject
Matter Experts
- Roles for Qualified Disability Subject Matter Experts
- Use Real Actors with Disabilities
- Budget
- Recruiting
- Location Accessibility
- Timing
- Communication Access for All Participants and Actors
- Disability-related Inject Ideas
- Participation
in Hot
Wash
- Samples:
Request for Participants and Actor’s
Guide -
What to Know Before You Go!
Guidance
for Integrating People with Disabilities in Emergency Drills, Table
Tops and
Exercises Edition 1,
(2015) - Guidance
prepared for North Carolina Emergency Management. It uses the
Homeland
Security Exercise and Evaluation Program (HSEEP) Master Task List
format
commonly used in the field to provide a set of guiding principles for
exercise
programs, as well as a common approach to exercise program management,
design
and development, conduct, evaluation, and improvement planning.
The
second column is what is new and focuses on steps to recruit,
accommodate,
include, and get feedback from people with disabilities and others with
access
and functional needs in exercises. Also includes suggestions for
injects
that can be tailored to specific exercise.
Health Plan
Member-Focused Emergency Practices Roadmap, (2021) A report from
the
World Institute of Disability, written
by June Isaacson Kailes Disability Policy Consultant investigates
and documents promising member-centered emergency interventions. These
critical procedures include applying lessons from COVID-19 and other
co-occurring and previous emergencies.
screen readers version: https://wid.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/WID_Report_Roadmap_accessible-1.pdf
The Roadmap’s purpose
is to strengthen, create,
promote, and embed emergency practices into
member-centered health plans’ processes which help members successfully
deal
with, live through, and survive emergencies. Health plans are often overlooked as
essential partners before, during, and after emergencies. Yet, more
than any
other service system, health plans, public and private, serve most
people with disabilities
in the United States.
Health plans play critical emergency
roles in addressing and protecting their members’ resilience,
health, safety, and independence. In emergencies, health plans can
prevent or
mitigate the cascading of adverse emergency effects of typically
well-controlled chronic health conditions. Like a house of cards, the
balance can easily be disrupted or collapse. Targeted prevention
includes
protection from degrading failure of:
- personal support systems
- loss of supplies
- loss of medications
- loss of technologies
- loss of customized accessible
environments
- equitable access to disaster response programs, services,
and activities
The
audience for this Roadmap is
broad and addresses a range
of stakeholder concerns, including:
- frontline health plan staff and leadership
- medical service providers and home and community-based
services
- provider organizations such as adult day programs, home
health care services, and community-based agencies
Stakeholder concerns covered include the
roles and possible
actions of:
- accrediting organizations,
standard-setting bodies, and quality assurance organizations
- disability-led, disability-focused, and community-based
organization
- emergency management consultants
- emergency managers and planners
- Federal and state legislatures
- Federal, state, and local health agencies
- grantmakers
- health plan leadership and staff
- researchers
Major focus of
this Roadmap is:
- Health Plan Leadership
- Case management, care planning, and
care coordination
- Pharmacy
- Member emergency communication
- Contractor and vendor agreements
- Community partnerships
- Workforce training
- Policy change opportunities
American
Public Health Association Annual Meeting 10/25/21 Slide
Deck
Inclusive
Event
Procedures for Emergencies,
Edition I, October 2017 - Procedures
for emergencies should be
incorporated into event planning. Emergency procedures should
anticipate the
needs of everyone. Planning should recognize that there will be
attendees with
disabilities who may need evacuation or other assistance in an
emergency. These
attendees have a variety of disabilities (mobility, breathing,
allergies,
hearing, seeing, reading, understanding or chronic conditions) and may
have
difficulty or be unable to: use
stairwells,
hear alarms, see or read exit signs and understand instructions.
Contents include:
applying emergency planning strategies, safety considerations for site
selection, projecting numbers of attendees with disabilities, a
checklist
for
inclusive emergency safety briefings for attendees, emergency
planning with event facilities staff and more resources. Readers
should use
this guidance in conjunction with information
found in “Accessible
Meetings, Events, and Conferences Guide.” http://www.adahospitality.org/accessible-meetings-events-conferences-guide/book
Moving
Beyond "Special Needs" A function-based framework for emergency
management and planning, (2007)
Serving and Protecting All by Applying Lessons
Learned -
Including People with Disabilities and Seniors in Disaster Services
(2006)
Standard, Accessible, and Medical Cots
(2009)
The
National Shelter System and Physical Accessibility - Time to Look Under
the
Hood (2017) focuses on physical
accessibility, one of the
many mass care criteria used by the American Red Cross’s National
Shelter System
(NSS). This focus on facility access is motivated by being repeatedly
told, (in
my role as a trainer, consultant and policy analyst,) by emergency
management
professionals that they do not need to survey their mass care sites for
physical accessibility, because they can depend on the information in
the NSS.
The
information in this article is derived from informal discussions with
American
Red Cross staff and volunteers. These discussions resulted in
inconsistent and
sometimes contradictory information regarding NSS. What follows is a
list of
questions and concerns regarding NSS’s information accuracy, surveyor
competencies, and uniformity in applying standardized policies and
procedures
across divisions and regions. For example, different survey versions of
physical
access questions appear to be used in NSS and in different regions.
Training
Training:
Maximizing Your ROI!
(2017) In
the emergency management world,
applying lessons can make the difference between life and death for
people with
disabilities and others with access and functional needs. It’s about
impact and
outcomes. The goal is not just lessons observed, documented, or heard
about,
but lessons repeatedly applied, so we can eventually claim them as
lessons
learned.
Recent
disaster response has highlighted and reinforced that our current
training models need modernizing. Time and budgets for
training are minuscule. We must prevent the initial investment in
developing
training from subsequently getting stuck in outdated learning and
evaluation
models. Content presents 6 “How’s” for modernizing training:
1.
Refresh content and materials frequently
2.
Train
teams
3.
Elevate importance of exercises
4.
Use
spaced reinforced interval learning
5.
Put
equal emphasis on just-in-time training
6.
Use
evaluation methods that measure delivery effectiveness, performance,
impact and
outcomes
Transit
Evacuation
Featuring June Kailes, a
disability policy consultant who offers guidance on improving emergency
transit
evacuation plans, particularly for individuals with
disabilities. Kailes
emphasizes moving beyond vague language and theoretical plans towards
clear,
actionable, and measurable strategies. She stresses the importance
of
specific details in planning documents and contracts with community
organizations, advocating for honest public communication regarding
response
limitations and the necessity of personal preparedness. The
discussion
highlights the failures of relying on emergency registries and promotes
neighbor-to-neighbor support and realistic expectations during
disasters. Ultimately,
the material encourages a cycle of planning, testing, analysis, and
revision to
strengthen emergency response capabilities for disproportionally
impacted populations. Resources
and tools are mentioned to aid in assessing gaps and developing more
effective
evacuation strategies.
Coming
soon: 2 new
resources will be available
@ https://disasterstrategies.org
under
“USEFUL INFO”
Transit
Evacuation Plans for
People with Disabilities: Key Integration Details(April 2025)
A tool for people & teams
responsible for developing, responding, maintaining, testing, &
revising
emergency transit evacuation services & their associated plans,
annexes,
processes, procedures, protocols, policies, job aids, field operation
guides,
& training. Use this tool
- for a realistic &
honest assessment of
gaps
- to collectively identify
opportunities for
improvement
- to identify individuals who have
responsibility, authority, & resources to lead the effort on
specific
elements needing attention.
- problem-solve & track
progress
Disability Emergency
Personal
Evacuation Transportation Planning (April 2025) Focuses
on disability-related details of preparing
for the many hazards that can involve leaving a disaster-affected area.
Individual
Preparedness
Be
Ready to
Go: Evacuation Transportation Planning Tips for People with Access and
Functional Needs
(2010)
Be Ready To Go:
Disability-Specific Supplies For Emergency Kits (2010)
Be Real,
Specific, and Current: Emergency Preparedness Information for People
with
Disabilities and Others with Access and Functional Needs,
Edition
1.0, (2016) General
emergency preparedness information is important for everyone,but does not
always equally applicable for people with
disabilities. These
materials can be more inclusive when they contain information that
focuses on
specific functional needs.
Offers
guidance, examples, and
resources on promoting or producing these materials and includes
checking that
the content:
- is developed
in partnership (of, with and by) people who live with disabilities and
others with access and functional needs;
- includes
information that is useful and specific to people with limitations in
hearing, vision, mobility, speech, and cognition (thinking,
understanding, learning, remembering);
- describes
disability in accurate and respectful ways and uses neutral terms that
avoid offensive words which reflect negati ve attitudes
and stereotypes;
- focuses on
no cost and low cost preparedness in addition to costly activities;
- recognizes
that that not all people can afford to buy emergency supplies and
equipment;
- is available
in accessible and usable formats and give users information on how to
get these materials in other formats such as large print, audio, disks,
or Braille; and
- uses
resources that are clearly described and annotated with specific links
to more resources. WORD
Disability Specific Supplies Emergency Kits
2023,
Edition 3.0, UPDATED Checklist
suggests emergency kit contents including no cost supplies, that you
can tailor
to your needs and abilities. Kits to consider for different places and
situations: keep it with you, grab and go, home, bedside and car.
Specific
suggestions are made for hearing, speech and communication and vision
issues as
well as for wheelchair and scooter users, service animal owners and
people with
allergies, chemical sensitivities and breathing conditions. WORD
Emergency
Evacuation Preparedness: Taking Responsibility For Your Safety, A Guide
For
People with Disabilities and
Other Activity Limitation
(2002) develop
plans that integrate people with disabilities and others with access
and functional needs.
- create, review and
practice
plans
- gather
emergency health information
- evaluate
your need to identify as someone who
will need help during an evacuation
- practice
the skill of giving quick information
on how to best assist you
- establish
personal support networks
- conduct
an ability self-assessment
- know
your emergency evacuation options
Emergency
Health Information: Savvy Health Care Consumer Series (2011)
guides
you through developing your emergency health information. You should
keep copies of this information in your wallet (behind your driver’s
license
or official identification card) and emergency kits.
It shares with
rescuers important information if they find you unconscious,
or unable to provide information. It contains information about your
medications, equipment, allergies, communication needs, preferred
treatment, medical providers, and important contacts.
Emergency Power Planning for People Who Use
Electricity and
Battery Dependent Assistive Technology and Devices
(2019)
Emergency
power planning checklist for people who use electricity
and battery dependent technology and devices.
Electricity and battery-dependent devices such as:
- breathing
machines (respirators, ventilators),
- power
wheelchairs and scooters, and
- oxygen,
suction or home dialysis equipment.
Some of
this equipment is essential to your level of independence while other
equipment is vital to keeping you
alive!
This checklist can be used to make power-backup plans.
This
document also contains:
- how
to establish a support team,
- how
to master the skill of giving quick information on how best to help you,
- advice from
users, and
- sources
for more information.
Emergency
Preparedness for Personal Assistant Services (PAS) Users, Edition 2.0,
(2016)
contains tips for individuals who use personal
assistants,
attendants
or caregivers. Planning elements include a checklist, support teams,
communication, evacuating and sheltering, supplies, and more ‘how to”
details. WORD
Emergency Preparedness: Taking Responsibility For
Your
Safety - Tips for People with Activity Limitations and Disabilities (2006)
Emergency
Travel Safety Tips for Overnight Stays,
Edition 1 – October 2017 - Tips for
everyone.
[*] Items are
specifically for people with disabilities who
because of a
variety of disabilities (mobility, breathing, allergies, hearing,
seeing,
walking, understanding or chronic conditions) may have difficulty or be
unable
to: use stairwells, hear alarms, see or read exit signs and understand
instructions. Safety tips include:
check-in, personal support,
in your guest room, other safety tips and more resources.
Map
Your Neighborhood | Washington State Military Department, Citizens
Serving
Citizens with Pride & Tradition Neighborhoods
prepared for emergencies and
disaster situations save lives and reduce the severity of injuries,
trauma, and
property damage. The Map Your Neighborhood program guides you and your
neighbors through steps to help enhance your preparedness. These steps
will
help you quickly and safely minimize damage and protect lives. It
improves
disaster readiness at the neighborhood level, 15-20 homes, or a defined
area
you can canvas in 1 hour. It teaches neighbors to rely on each
other
during the hours or days before fire, medical, police, or utility
responders
arrive.
Out-of-town emergency contacts listed in priority
order
(first person reached calls others on this list) (2015)
Tips
for Emergency Use of Mobile Devices Edition 2, (2015) - Cell
phones and other mobile devices like tablets are a big part of our
lives. You rarely leave home
without
them and we often store important information on them. In emergencies
and disasters they can be a communication life line. Provides details
regarding
preparing your device to quickly get and give emergency information
which
includes a checklist, emergency contacts and documents, alerts,
texting, apps,
bookmarks of important mobile sites, “no service” backup plans, skill
drills
and other resources.
More Content …
Health
5 “G’s”
Getting Access to Health Care for People with Physical Disabilities (2008)
Be an Active
Health
Care Consume, Edition 2 (2019) Health
care providers
deserve respect, not worship! The old “doctor
always knows best” attitude is outdated. You must speak up or you may
not get
important care. Being passive can be dangerous to your health. Contents
include:
Determine
Your Priorities
Health Care
Self Advocacy Skills
Survey
Being Active
Trusting
Your Life Experience and
Your Common Sense
Quiz: Are
You an Active or Passive
Health Care
Consumer?
Health Care
Visit Strategy Quiz
Accessibility
Planning
Plan Ahead
Accessibility
Planning Checklist
Effectively
Communicating with
Health Care Providers
The DES
Script: A Tool for Improving
Communication
Types of
Helpful and Not Helpful
Communication
Chief
Complaint / Reason for Visit
Understanding
and Remembering
Information from Visits with Health Care Providers
Take A
Support Person with You
Effectively
Working with Your
Support Person
Take Notes
Record
Your Appointments
Ask
for Pictures
Get
Your Test Results
Test
Result Communication Form
< style="font-family: arial;">
Competency Planning Checklists for Providing
Health Care for
People with Disabilities (2016) - Health care
providers
can use these checklists:
- as
an actionable
practice competency assessment
- to
identify
opportunities for improvements.
- to
set priorities.
- to
track progress.
The purpose
of these gap analysis checklists is to assist in:
- evaluating
their
attitudes toward participants with disabilities.
- assessing
current capacity
to provide physical, communication, medical equipment, services, and
program
access.
- care
coordination for
participants with disabilities.
- complying
with Centers
for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) expectations for services for
Medicaid
and Medicare populations with disabilities.
- evaluating disability inclusiveness
of policies, procedures, and training.
Health
Care Rights for People with Disabilities (2015)
Health
plans must provide access to health care
services including preventive care and necessary services. California’s
Department
of Managed Health Care provides this content to help Californians with
disabilities understand their rights and get the care they need.
Topics
include:
Physical
Access to Care
Communication
Assistance - Hearing
Communication
Assistance - Hearing-Deaf
Communication
Assistance - Vision
Keeping
Your Doctor - Continuity of Care
Getting
Health Care Benefits and Services
Making Preventive
Health Care
Work for You – A Resource Guide for People with Physical Disabilities, (2006)
screen reader version
Information
and tools regarding:
- determining your
health risk
-
creating a routine
screening and immunization plan
tailored to your needs
-
reviewing ways to
become or strengthen being active in
your healthcare
-
increasing confidence
and updating communication skills
to work effectively with healthcare providers
-
risk factors checklist
-
routine, screening,
and immunization form
-
checklist for
planning ahead if you need
disability-specific help
-
test results,
communication form
-
tips
for healthcare
providers regarding routine preventative screening for people with
disabilities
Quality
Services for People with Disabilities and Activity Limitations – Health
Care Video
Series, 2012
Who are People with
Disabilities
and
activity
limitations and explores how disability increases with age. 14 minutes
Hassle
factors experienced by people with disabilities and activity
limitations when getting
health care.
How
health
care worker’s Attitudes
and Beliefs toward people with disabilities and activity
limitations can affect he quality of health care. 37 minutes
Tips for
Planning a
Rapid
Emergency COVID-19 (Coronavirus) Response
Using
a Fitness Center Does Not Have to be an Exercise in
Frustration: Tips for People with Mobility and Visual Disabilities
(2008)
Health
Plans
Health Plans
–
Strengthening Emergency Roles and Partnerships 2,20,20 -
Policy Paper covers:
- Problem
- Expectation
Mismatch and Magical Thinking
- Recommendations
- Care
Planning and Care Coordination
- Life-safety
Checks
- Emergency
Performance Clauses for Contracted Providers and Suppliers
- Member
Emergency Communications
- Community
Partnerships
- Guidance
Health Care Stories Videos
(2011) – These free, downloadable short videos illustrate, as
no policy paper can, the obstacles and barriers that stand in the way
of
getting health care for many people with disabilities. They
focus on common and widespread
barriers to care. The videos feature stories about inaccessible
examination
tables and weight scales and healthcare provider misperceptions and
stereotypes. They also recommend actions for improving care. These
downloadable
videos not only present an all-important human perspective. They also
affirm
the barriers to care that a decade of research has revealed.
Access to
Medical Care for Individuals with
Mobility Disabilities (May 2010), (last
accessed 9.14.10) U.S. Department of
Justice, Civil Rights Division, Disability Rights Section. Provides
guidance
for medical care professionals on the ADA’s requirement to provide
accessible
health care to individuals with mobility disabilities and includes an
overview
of general ADA requirements, commonly asked questions, and illustrated
examples
of accessible facilities, examination rooms, and medical equipment.
Exam
Room
Selection for Accessible Examination Tables & Chairs
(2010)
Covers:
- The number / percentage of
accessible examination rooms
with exam tables / chairs
- Specifications of an
accessible exam room;Tips for
selecting which exam rooms to designate as “accessible”
Health Care
(clinic/outpatient) Facilities Access (2008), (last accessed
9.14.10), Covers:
Basics of physical access for clinicians and medical
office staff, provides links and listing including:
- Removing common barriers
- Path-of-travel
- Resources for facility surveys
- Accessible office fixtures
and hardware.
Importance
of Accessible Examination Tables & Wheelchair Scales
(2010)
Covers:
- Reasons why medical offices
should have height-adjustable
examination, treatment tables and chairs, and accessible weight-scales
- Improving quality of care for
people with disabilities
and activity limitations
- Preventing and reducing health
care professionals’
workplace injuries
- Avoiding costly legal problems
- Taking advantage of tax
incentives
- Features of accessible
examination tables, chairs, and
weight-scales
Improving
Accessibility with Limited Resources (2008), (last accessed 9.14.10),
Covers:
- Barrier removal as a continuing
obligation, and
- Ideas, illustrations and
examples of low-cost barrier
removal:
- Installing portable ramps for
access to buildings,
- Lever door handles,
- Clear 32” path-of-travel,
- Repositioning a soap
and/or paper towel dispenser to be
in reach range.
People
with
Disabilities and Chronic Conditions – Health Care Competency Training
and
Materials for health care practitioners: includes materials
and
videos regarding: /// take out
- Americans
with Disabilities Act (ADA) Compliance
- Communication,
medical equipment, physical and program access,
- Who Are
People with Disabilities
- Health and
Health Care Disparities
- Policies and
Procedures
- Customer
Service
- Coordination
and Working with the Community
- Tip sheets
- Online
training resources
Micro
Videos
Using
Accessible Scales
to Weigh People with Mobility and Disability Limitations,
(2017) 4
minutes
Questions
to Ask for Identifying Communication and Accommodation Needs
(2016) - Many people need access related to communication,
mobility and
service. Many of these people do not identify as having a disability.
Therefore, it is important to ask people about these needs. Attention
to the
details is critical when identifying and meeting communication and
accommodation needs. Asking a key question of all people can help to
accomplish
this.
More Content …
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jik@pacbell.net
© 1998 -
2025 June Isaacson
Kailes, Disability Policy Consultant, All Rights Reserved.
Created 11/8/97
| Updated 05.02.25