News Feature
NCD #02-385
September 10, 2002
Contact: Mark S. Quigley
202-272-2004
202-272-2074 TTY
mquigley@ncd.gov
National Council on Disability Feature: Homeland
Security, September 11, and People with Disabilities
WASHINGTON--The National Council on Disability (NCD)
released its 2001 annual National
Disability Policy: A Progress Report (http://www.ncd.gov/newsroom/publications/progressreport_07-26-02.html)
on July 26, 2002. The Report highlights a number of issues including
homeland security and its impact on people with disabilities.
From a term that would have evoked various interpretations
and a great deal of puzzlement among the general public as recently
as last summer, "homeland security" has emerged as a central concern
of government and citizens and as a major component of national,
state, and local budgets. As we commemorate the horrific occurrences
of September 11, 2001, and as we plan for how our nation will respond
to contingencies that we all hope will never occur again, the presence
among us of 54 million Americans with disabilities must not be overlooked
or forgotten.
Experience in the grim and terrifying hours of September
11 illustrates many of the issues facing this segment of our population.
- People who are deaf often could not follow news
reports on TV, because of the lack of captions. If life-and-death
instructions were conveyed by the emergency warning broadcast
system today, would their accessibility to people who cannot hear
be ensured?
- Evacuation plans for major buildings and facilities
did not always include provisions to ensure that people with disabilities
could have an equal chance of exiting the building. If a major
facility had to be evacuated today, would occupants who are blind
have the means of knowing the location of emergency exits? Would
people using wheelchairs know where to go or what to do if elevators
were turned off? Would people who cannot hear be alerted by visual
alarms to the need for swift action? Would people with vocal communication
disabilities be heard when rescuers searched for those in need
of help?
To put the matter in yet starker terms, if a nuclear
facility were to be the target of terrorism and public health officials
were to distribute potassium iodide to protect the populace against
the effects of radiation, would people with disabilities know where
to get it, have physical access to the distribution centers, be
able to open the packages or seals, or be able to read the usage
instructions?
As the imperatives of domestic security and national
preparedness make more vividly clear than ever, these concerns are
far from abstract. It is easy to say that someone would help them,
would do it for them, but is that comforting expectation enough?
In too many instances, NCD has learned of the emergence of assumptions
and stereotypes of people with disabilities-for example, restricting
the access of people with disabilities to lower levels of workplaces,
places of public accommodations, and housing. This treatment flies
in the face of the closely held values of independence and freedom
in the disability community.
The recently published NCD Progress Report covers
many issues bearing on the equality of opportunity and equality
of treatment. These do not cease to be real in the face of emergency.
Let us learn from our tragedy and let us use our solidarity and
shared sense of national purpose to ensure accessibility and equality,
not only in our reaction to danger but as well in the pursuit of
our hopes. The values we embrace and offer to others are not values
for some. They are nothing if not values for all.
For more information, contact Mark Quigley at 202-272-2004
or Celane McWhorter at 703-683-1166.
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