National Organization On Disability Position Paper on Hurricane Katrina and People with Disabilities

National Council on Disability on Hurricane Katrina Affected Areas

September 7, 2005

In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, people with disabilities have unique needs that must be surveyed and responded to immediately. In order to evacuate the large number of survivors from the New Orleans area, as well as from other areas of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, people with disabilities were often forced to abandon their wheelchairs, walkers and other medical equipment. People who are blind, who may no longer have a service animal or cane to help them navigate, will require assistance in navigating a new environmental landscape. People who are deaf or hard of hearing will need visual access to emergency information. People in need of personal assistance services may now no longer have access to such services both as the result of separation from attendants during the evacuation process or due to not knowing how to obtain and fund the cost of qualified individuals in the locations where they now find themselves and, consequently, nursing home care in an institutional setting is often seen as the only remaining viable alternative to living in shelters. People with mental health needs, whose access to treatment and medications may have been disrupted, are in critical need of treatment and/or medication. In addition, mental illness symptoms are often exacerbated in times of crisis, and many individuals, even those not directly affected by the hurricane, may need assistance in identifying and accessing available resources.

The Federal Government’s Response

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has set up a registration process for people with disabilities and chronic health care needs, and every hurricane survivor with a disability must register to be able to receive the full range of federal disaster relief assistance. See https://disasterhelp.gov/portal/jhtml/index.jhtml or call 800-621-FEMA or 800-462-9029 or TDD/TTY 800-462-7585.

The Food and Nutrition Service, run by the US Department of Agriculture, has taken several actions to expedite and facilitate the Food Stamp enrollment and receipt for evacuees of Hurricane Katrina in their destination states, as identified on the webpage found at www.fns.usda.gov/fns/. This site’s “Newsroom” section provides the latest efforts to date.

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Katrina Disability Information

A website providing information about people with disabilities recovering from Hurricane katrina.

Individual Preparedness Response to Chemical, Radiological, Nuclear and Biological Terrorist Attacks

Link to website

Overview

Individual preparedness is an important element of our nation's strategy for homeland security. This report adopts a scenario-driven approach that provides a rigorous way to identify actions- linked specifically to terrorist attacks- individuals can take to protect their health and safety. The result is an individual's strategy across four types of terrorist attacks- chemical, radiological, nuclear, and biological- consisting of overarching goals and simple and directive response and preparatory actions. The actions are appropriate regardless of likelihood of an attack, scale of attack, or government alert level; designed to be sensitive to potential variations; and defined in terms of simple rules that should be easy for individuals to adopt.

Status of Report

This publication is available for free in PDF format, or can be purchased as a paperback (232 pp.) for $28.00. For more information, visit the following web page:

http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1731/

An abridged verison of this publication is also available in PDF format at the following URL:

http://www.rand.org/publications/MR/MR1731.1/MR1731.1.pdf

Emergency Preparedness Initiative (EPI) of NOD (National Organization on Disability)

Compelled by the attacks of September 11, 2001, N.O.D. launched the Emergency Preparedness Initiative (EPI) to ensure that emergency managers address disability concerns and that people with disabilities are included in all levels of emergency preparedness- planning, response, and recovery.

Throughout the first three years of the program, EPI has become firmly established within the emergency management industry and disability advocacy organizations. EPI remains the nationally recognized leader in emergency preparedness for people with disabilities and special needs. Ms. Hilary Styron, Director of EPI continues its national outreach, education, and awareness efforts to ensure that people with disabilities take measures to prepare themselves for emergencies; to ensure that preparedness officials across the country are including people with disabilities in the planning, training and exercises, and response activities being undertaken at the community level; and to ensure that people with disabilities are themselves taking an active role in participating alongside preparedness officials before, during, and after an emergency. EPI is proud to have established coalitions and working partnerships amongst the emergency management and first responder community, as well as several disability related organizations and their constituents.

For additional EPI program information, please visit the EPI website at www.nod.org/emergency. If you need further assistance please address inquiries to EPI Director Hilary Styron at epi@nod.org.

Red Cross Material on Disaster Preparedness for People with Disabilities

This material from the American Red Cross "contains information that can help you organize a personal disaster plan and includes plans for the care of service animals and/or pets during a disaster."

Further discussion here.