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Comprehensive Emergency Preparedness for Disabled: Laws, Policies & Strategies

This training provides insights on ADA, FEMA, and Section 504 laws for emergency planning ensuring equitable access and care for disabled individuals during disasters. Learn about inclusive shelter policies, public notifications, evacuation procedures, and post-disaster recovery services for people with disabilities. The program emphasizes the importance of proactive preparation, staff training in disability awareness, and outreach efforts to meet critical needs effectively.

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Comprehensive Emergency Preparedness for Disabled: Laws, Policies & Strategies

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  1. Emergency Preparedness for the Disabled

  2. Presenter Edward L. Myers Deputy Executive Director Arizona Center for Disability Law

  3. Emergency Planning Information • The purpose of this training is to provide general information regarding the special education process. It is not intended as a substitute to legal advice. • Federal and state law can change at anytime, so please stay abreast to possible changes to the law.

  4. Federal Laws • (ADA - Title II) American’s with Disabilities Act Title for public services • (ADA - Title III) American’s with Disabilities Act Title for public accommodations • (Section 504) Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 • (FEMA)Federal Emergency Management Agency under the Homeland Security Act of 2002

  5. Prohibition of discrimination under Title II and Title III of the ADA and Section 504 The ADA is a comprehensive mandate designed to eliminate both “outright intentional exclusion” and “the discriminatory effects of architectural, transportation, and communication barriers, overprotective rules and policies, and failure to make modifications to existing facilities and practices.

  6. Strategies for a Successful Emergency Plan emergency preparedness and planning must include certain essential components, such as provision for shelter and care for people forced to evacuate their homes, public notification and communication before and during emergencies, as well as assistance with evacuation and transportation from affected areas. …AND reasonable modifications necessary to avoid discrimination on the basis of a disability.

  7. 9 Step Plan for NYC: builds upon framework already in place to include people with disabilities Brooklyn Center for Independence of the Disabled v. Bloomberg (Mayor), 2011 WL 4445718 (S.D.N.Y. 2011).

  8. Comprehensive plans are already in place; but fail to allow for the disability community to participate in assessments and tests, provide input, and find out how to prepare based on (a) how they will be notified, (b) how they will be evacuated, and (c) which shelters are accessible. Step 1: Comprehensive plans designed for hurricanes, blizzards or terrorist attacks to include the disabledStep 2: Assessments of these plans to include the disabled

  9. Resources should include life saving medications, DME, consumable medical supplies and the number of accessible seats available on evacuation busses. Public Notice should include sign language and captioning. Step 3: Advanced identification of needs and resources including those of the DisabledStep 4: Public notice prior to, during and after an emergency So everyone understands

  10. City policy implies persons should have enough food, water, medicine, and other supplies to survive on their own for three days. Persons with disabilities may be dependent on electricity for respirators, wheelchairs or other assistive technologies which, during power-outages, means persons with disabilities may require immediate assistance. Step 5: Policy to “shelter in place” for up to 3 daysStep 6: Shelter and care for those who must be evacuated

  11. Persons with disabilities know very little or nothing of the City's emergency plans. They do not know, for instance, how they will be notified, how and if they will be evacuated, which shelters are accessible, how and if they will be transported and what assistance, if any, they will receive. Step 7: Assistance with evacuation & transportationStep 8: Temporary housing for who cannot return homeStep 9: Provision of recovery & remediation afterward

  12. “Lessons Learned from the World Trade Center:Emergency Preparedness for People with Disabilities in New York.” • Emergency responders, as well as relief and other service agencies, must incorporate into their planning and operations an appropriate strategy for ensuring equitable access to response and recovery services for people with disabilities; • Relief agencies cannot wait until they are in the middle of a disaster to start training their staff in disability awareness; • The day after a disaster is too late for agencies to start doing outreach to make their services known to people with disabilities; and • During the recovery phase, there must be a priority to restore or address those services and needs most critical to people with disabilities, especially related to access to home attendants, assistive equipment, medication, accessible transportation and temporary shelter, and food delivery. The report reached several key conclusions ignored by the City of New York and its Mayor.

  13. Preparation is the Foundation for success

  14. Do emergency preparedness programs adequately serve the needs of the more than 800,000 individuals with disabilities who live within L.A.? Los AngelesCommunities Actively Living Indep. & Free v. City of Los Angeles, CV 09-0287 CBM RZX, 2011 WL 4595993 (C.D. Cal. Feb. 10, 2011).

  15. Across the San Francisco Bay….Since 1983, Oakland experienced eight presidential-declared disasters, including earthquakes and storms. The disasters destroyed many homes and disproportionately affect the disabled who suffer greater loss when there is a lack of electricity, due to reliance on assistive technology. OaklandCalifornia Foundation of Independent Living Centers v. Oakland, 2010 WL 3213645 (N.D.Cal. 2010)

  16. Marshalls customer in a wheelchair was trapped in the mall during a fire alarm, because the Mall's elevators were inoperable due to the emergency. The Marshalls evacuation policy should have been modified to give the customer an operable exit from the store. BusinessesSavage v. City Place Limited Partnership, 2004 WL 3045404 (2004) (not reported in A.2d).

  17. Unacceptable Reasons for Not Implementing Equality in Emergency Preparedness • Lack of staff to implement the level of services • Lack of staff to implement related services • Lack of resources and personnel or expertise • Change in philosophy

  18. For More Information • Arizona Center for Disability Law 5025 E. Washington St. Suite, 202 Phoenix, AZ 85034 602-274-6287 (voice / TTY) 1-800-927-2260 (toll free) www.azdisabilitylaw.org

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