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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