Remarks by Martin Gould, Ed.D.
Senior Research Specialist
National Council on Disability

Saving Lives: Including People with Disabilities in Emergency Planning
News Conference
April 15, 2005

Introduction

As Dr. Kang said, in 2003 NCD committed itself to evaluating the Federal Government’s developing role and work in the areas of homeland security, emergency preparation and disaster relief. NCD also noted that the Federal Government’s developing efforts, as they relate to and affect Americans with disabilities, would build on its’ ongoing experiences in implementing pivotal laws such as the Americans with Disabilities Act, Section 504 and Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act, and Section 255 of the Telecommunications Act, to name a few. NCD has previously issued reports on these laws.

Purpose of the Report

The man-made homeland security terrorist event of September 11, 2001, as well as the recent energy blackouts in the U.S. Northeast and Midwest and, more recently, the natural disaster hurricane events in Florida and the Asian tsunami of December 26, 2004, underscore the need to pay attention to the concerns raised in this report.

Also of note, in April 2004, the California SILC delivered a report to Gov. Schwarzenegger detailing the treatment of people with disabilities during the 2003 firestorms. That report indicated that many of CA’s 19.6% of persons with disabilities were unable to evacuate themselves because of poor notification methods. In March 2005, newspapers in Virginia and Maryland reported on concerns raised by parents and students about public school systems’ use of strategies to evacuate or not evacuate students during fire emergency situations. A March 2005 Fire Chief article describes a survey of 30 cities/counties where natural or man-made disasters occurred between 1999 and 2004. The survey revealed that emergency managers still don’t have a good handle on where persons with disabilities are, and how do they find ways to rescue and then accommodate them when they get to a place of safety.

All too often in emergency situations the legitimate concerns of people with disabilities are overlooked or swept aside. In areas ranging from the accessibility of emergency information to the evacuation plans for high-rise buildings, great urgency surrounds the need for responding to these people’s concerns in all planning, preparedness, response, recovery, and mitigation activities.

The decisions the government makes, the priority it accords to civil rights, and the methods it adopts to ensure uniformity in the ways agencies handle their disability-related responsibilities are likely to be established in the early days of an emergency situation and be difficult to change if not set on the right course at the outset. By way of this report, the NCD offers advice to help the Federal Government (and its partners) establish policies and practices in these areas. The report also gives examples of community efforts to take account of the needs of people with disabilities.

Scope of the Report

NCD’s research for Saving Lives spanned the period September 2003 to December 2004. At the end of, and following that time period, there has much work that key federal agencies have intended to address: such as considering strengthening the National Preparedness System, emergency communications (e.g., the emergency alert system and all-hazard warnings), and public safety communications in general. We note these issues briefly in Saving Lives. NCD will address these areas and the Federal Government’s continued progress, in more detail, in future reports.

Major Findings

• People with disabilities frequently encounter barriers to physical plants, communications, and programs in shelters and recovery centers and in other facilities or devices used in connection with disaster operations such as first aid stations, mass feeding areas, portable payphone stations, portable toilets, and temporary housing.



• Many of these barriers are not new. Information and lessons learned are not shared across agency lines, and thus experience does not enlighten the development of new practices. Many accessibility lessons learned during previous disasters are not incorporated in subsequent planning, preparedness, response, and recovery activities.



• People with disabilities are too often left out of preparedness and planning activities. These activities include analyzing and documenting the possibility of an emergency or disaster and the potential consequences or impacts on life and/or property.



• Disaster preparedness and response systems are usually designed for people without disabilities, for whom escape or rescue involves walking, running, driving, seeing, hearing, and quickly responding to instructions and evacuation announcements.



• Access to emergency public warnings, as well as preparedness and mitigation information and materials, does not adequately include people who cannot depend on sight and hearing to receive their information.



• The strengths and skills of CBOs serving people with disabilities are not well integrated into the emergency service plans and strategies of local government. Emergency managers need to strengthen their relationships with these organizations by recruiting, encouraging, and providing funding and incentives to CBOs so that they can participate and assist in disaster preparedness and relief.



• The CRCL and FEMA do not get many formal complaints about discrimination related to people with disabilities. This fact is in dramatic contrast to the barriers reported by people with disabilities.

• DHS should establish a Disability Access Advisory Group, in addition to the Interagency Coordinating Council on Emergency Preparedness, made up of qualified people with disabilities and others with disability-specific disaster experience who meet regularly with senior officials to discuss issues and challenges.



• DHS should integrate information on people with disabilities into general preparedness materials. It also should inform readers and information users on how to get access to more customized materials.



• The CRCL should regularly issue guidance for state and local emergency planning departments to reinforce their legal obligation to comply with ADA and Section 504 and 508 of the Rehabilitation Act in planning for, operating, and managing programs and services such as Citizen Corps, shelters, and other disaster services.


{Note: On April 7th, NCD commended the FCC for its recent action levying fines against 3 California television stations for failure to comply with Section 79 of the Commission’s rules and provide timely captions or graphics of emergency information to deaf or partially deaf viewers.}


• Notwithstanding NCD’s April 7th letter, the FCC should: (a) develop stronger enforcement mechanisms to ensure that video programming distributors, including broadcasters, cable operators, and satellite television services, comply with their obligation to make emergency information accessible to people with hearing and vision disabilities, (b) act immediately on violations, and (c) be proactive on Section 255 hearing aid compatibility.



• DHS should develop and offer technical assistance and guidance materials for grantees about their ADA and Section 504 legal obligations and compliance strategies. DHS should conduct proactive reviews of recipients’ compliance or noncompliance with Section 504 and ADA.



• The CRCL and FEMA should develop information systems that comprehensively collect, aggregate, and summarize detailed information about complaints or compliance reviews and outcomes. This information should be available to the public.